All My Lesbians
by buffyfaith19
Summary: This is an all female version of All My Children. Obviously, the main characters are still involved, but the focus will be on the relationships of the women of Pine Valley.
1. Chapter One

Title. All My Lesbians.  
  
Author: buffyfaith19  
  
Show: All My Children.  
  
Rating: PG-13 - R  
  
Summary: This is an all female version of All My Children. Obviously, the main characters are still involved, but the focus will be on the relationships of the women of Pine Valley.  
  
Feedback: Please send any and all comments and suggestions to buffyfaith19@yahoo.com  
  
Notes: This story was started in April of 2003, but never completed. I plan to continue it now as long as there are a few people enjoying it.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters on AMC, they belong to ABC Television among others.  
  
Part One.  
  
It was a typically hectic morning at Fusion when Mia and Simone snuck into work, well over 30 minutes late. Greenlee was sitting at her desk with a very unpleasant look on her face and the girls knew they were in trouble yet again. They also knew there was no way to avoid this, so they slowly walked towards Greenlee. Mia was about to open her mouth and start explaining why they were late when Greenlee put up her finger and shook her head no and then stood up and stared them down, "Okay, this is getting to be a very bad habit for you two. Now what's going on?"  
  
The two women looked at each other and then Simone nodded for Mia to do the talking so Mia sat down beside Greenlee, took a deep breath and began to speak. "Well as you know Simone and I have been living together for the past few months and well we've become very close and..." Greenlee rolled her eyes at Mia's long-winded beginning, "And what? I don't need to hear some long explanation about this. I don't care why you were late. Just that you were, for the third time in two weeks, I might add. Here's the deal, if you're late again you're fired, both of you. And that's final."  
  
"Wait, you can't do that." Simone said defiantly, and walked up to Mia and put her arm around her, "We're in love." She blurted out before she knew it. "We've just had a little trouble getting out of bed. You have to be able to understand love can't you?" Greenlee took a moment to process what she'd just been told before she even thought of responding, "I see. Well that's very nice for you. It is. I'm happy for you. I am. Still, this is a business and you're both still part of it. You will be at work on time from now on. Agreed?"  
  
"Your no fun at all." Simone said with a frown and she took Mia and walked back to their desks. "Wait a minute." Greenlee snapped. "Listen that was Greenlee the boss talking and she does count. Now, this is Greenlee your friend talking." with that she put on a big smile, ran over to the two girls and gave them a big hug, "Congratulations. I had a feeling there was something going on between you two and I'm so happy it's working out."  
  
"Thank you Greenlee. It means a lot to us to have your support." Mia smiled widely as she held onto Simone's small hand, "But you're right, we won't let this interfere with work again. We are sorry. Honestly." "That's between you and Greenlee the boss, but I'm sure she will understand. Now, why don't we set up a lunch date for this afternoon and you can tell me all about what's been going on between you two lately. I do want to know every detail."  
  
Mia and Simone were more than happy to agree to this and they made plans to meet for lunch and got back to work.  
  
Back at the University, Maggie was sitting alone in the lobby reading a medical journal when Bianca walked in and spotted her. Just the sight of Maggie was enough to put a smile on her face, but she didn't want to be too aggressive or seem eager so she tried to focus on being calm then slowly walked up to her, "Hi there."  
  
Maggie looked up and smiled as she saw Bianca's face, "Hi. It's nice to see you again. What are you up to?" "I'm just doing some research for this new perfume I'm trying to create. Boyd inspired me with his creation and now I'm looking to create something all on my own."  
  
Maggie was noticeably impressed, "Wow, that sounds like fun. I bet you'll create a really great perfume though. You have really great taste you know." "I hope so." Bianca said softly, then paused not sure if she should continue. As she did, Maggie noticed the hesitation, "Hey, is something wrong? It looked like you were going to say something and then just stopped?"  
  
Bianca always loved how Maggie could read her so well, "You're right. I was going to ask you for some help but I don't want to impose. I know you have a ton of work to do yourself. It's just that you and I have the same taste in perfume. I think we'd be a great team, for work that is." Maggie smirked at Bianca's last comment, "Right, just work. Well, I'd love to help. I just finished taking a test and am free this afternoon if that works for you?  
  
"Oh great. That would be perfect." Bianca could never really contain her enthusiasm where Maggie was concerned, but she was trying very hard not to make this anything but a fun project between two good friends. As they got up and were heading to the library for some research Henry walked in. Without realizing it both girls showed some very obvious disappointment at this development.  
  
"Hi Bianca." he said then turned his attention to Maggie, "Hi, I was hoping you could help me study for a test. I really need to ace this thing and you're my best hope." Maggie tried to keep a smile on her face as she responded, "Actually I was just about to help Maggie with a project. What's the test on?" "Oh, it's a pathology paper that's due tomorrow. I've kind of been slacking off and working on my music and well, I know you're great at this stuff so it would be really great if you could get me through this."  
  
Bianca saw the look on Maggie's face and new she was feeling the pressure of having to make a choice so she thought she's make it easier for her, "Listen Maggie, we can do this another time. I'm sure you want to help Henry and that's fine. I'll call you later and we'll set up another time for this. Okay, you two have fun." she was already half way out the door when she finished her sentence.  
  
Maggie felt so bad that she couldn't help her and that was not a good way to start a study session either. Bianca ran out the door, stopped and leaned against the wall and wondered why such a small thing like this could still get to her. She tried to convince herself that she did the right thing by letting Maggie off the hook, but she still had the smallest hope that Maggie would come running out the door and say she wanted to work with her instead. She also knew that wasn't going to happen.  
  
Joni was watching Maddie at the park when Laurie came walking in with Jamie and the tension in the air went sky high. Jamie sensed it to but had no idea what was going on since to the best of his knowledge the two girls had patched things up, "Hi Joni, We're going to a party tomorrow night at Eddie's house and you're welcome to come."  
  
"I'm not sure. I mean, I have a curfew and I might have to baby-sit and I don't even know Eddie very well." "If she doesn't want to go we shouldn't push her." Laurie added, still not able to make eye contact with Joni. "You don't have to speak for me." Joni said sharply then stood up, "Actually I think I will go. That cute guy from the football team keeps asking me out so I guess I'll just go with him."  
  
"Oh right. You don't even know his name." Laurie snapped. Joni walked up closer to them and looked up at the taller Laurie, "I don't need to know his name. I know he likes me and he's willing to go out with me so that's enough." "That's really smart Joni. He's only asking you out for one thing you know."  
  
"Sure, no guy could want to go out with me because they actually like me. That's really nice to say to me." Joni felt hurt by the comment but she was not going to let Laurie see it, "Luckily I have a bit more faith in people than you do and I'm willing to give him a chance." "Fine. Go out with him. Have sex with him. Marry him. See if I care." Laurie grabbed Jamie's arm and started to walk away.  
  
Jamie stopped and turned back to Joni, "I guess I'll see ya at the party then. Have fun with Maddie." "Thanks Jamie. I'll see you tomorrow." Joni, smiled at Jamie and gave Laurie the evil eye as they disappeared out of view.  
  
Jamie walked quietly out of the park and then stopped and looked at Laurie with a very puzzled look on his face, "What just happened back there? I thought you two were friends again? You told me you were getting along really well and that you thought Joni was great." Laurie wanted a way to avoid this whole topic but wasn't very good at lying so she tried to tell him some of what happened, "We just had a bit of a fight is all. It happens. I'm sure we'll get past it."  
  
"Okay, what was the fight about?" "It's not important. Really. I need to get work." Laurie did her best to be vague and then just took off.  
  
It was finally lunchtime at Fusion and Mia, Simone and Greenlee took a corner booth at a small diner across the street. Greenlee was sitting opposite the two girls and waiting impatiently for the details of this newfound love between Mia and Simone, "Well, out with it you two. How did this happen?" The two girls looked at each other and as always couldn't stop smiling or kissing each other and were soon locked in a very sexy kiss when Greenlee slammed her hand down on the table, "You can do all that kissing stuff after you give me the details."  
  
Mia blushed, just a little, then the two girls sat forward and Mia began, "It happened over time. We just got along so well when we were living together. We have so many of the same interests and that just brought us closer together and the closer we got the more we realized that we were seeing each other in a different way." "What way?" Mia jumped in, "You know, both romantically and sexually. I mean, I've had female roommates before and it was all purely platonic, but with Simone I just felt this strong attraction to her. I thought it was because I was lonely at first, but the feelings just kept getting stronger and stronger."  
  
"So what happened to get you both to see this together and who made the first move?" Greenlee asked as she sipped her coffee and nibbled on her bagel. The two girls looked at each other trying to think of the answer and Simone finally broke the silence, "It's hard to say when things really changed. I guess the first kiss was probably the most obvious sign, but we knew how we felt long before that but I don't think we knew what to do with our feelings then."  
  
"Yeah, there's no doubt it was uncharted territory for both of us." Simone paused for a moment as if she's just remembered something Mia was very aware of this and turned to Simone, "Why did you stop there? Is this not new for you?" Simone shook her head and put her hands on Mia's and smiled at her, "Yes, this is new. Having these strong feelings are very new. But."  
  
"But what?" Mia asked as she was growing uneasy about what Simone was about to tell her. "Okay, in college I was curious and well I found out so was my roommate and well we did some experimenting. It was purely sexual though. We kind of took care of each other when things got bad." "Well, isn't this nice to find out now." Mia said as she shook her head at Simone and pulled her hands away, "Why didn't you tell me this? We talked about past boyfriends. Why not bring up all your girlfriends to?"  
  
"I'm sorry. I am. I just wasn't sure what to say. I know it was wrong not to tell you. I wasn't trying to hide anything." Simone reached out and tried to touch Mia's arm but she pulled back, "Please don't be mad. It was over 10 years ago and she wasn't a girlfriend. I know it sounds bad, but we just had sex." "That makes it all better. How many others were there?" Mia was on the offensive now and wasnt' about to stop, "Well, how may? 1? 2? 5? 10? Might as well get this out in the open."  
  
"Oh stop Mia. It was just a couple times. I was young and free from my very strict father and I was acting out. Listen to me, " Simone said as she grabbed Mia's hands and held them tightly in front of her, "You're the only girl.no, check that, your the only person I've ever been in love with. Ever. You're the only one I think about now. Nobody else matters. Okay? I love you with all my heart. Please don't let this ruin what we have."  
  
Mia was touched by Simone's words but she was still angry and didn't want to stop being angry, "I have to go. I'm fine. I just need some time alone. I'll see you at work." Greenlee was getting an earful and as she watched Mia walk out the door she looked over at a dejected Simone, "She'll be fine. I can tell she loves you to and this is just something she needs to deal with on her own. So tell me, what was that number?"  
  
"Shut up Greenlee." Simone said half-heartedly, "I can't believe this just happened. This was supposed to be a fun little lunch. Mia's so mad though. I should know better. I really should. Secrets are never good." "Ya think?" Greenlee said sarcastically, "The main thing is she knows now. She will get over this. But, if there's any other secret's you better tell her now." "Oh really? Well how do you think she will react when I tell her that we kissed?" Simone asked with a look of confusion covering her face.  
  
Bianca was in the library looking through a stack of books on how to create a perfume and she was beginning to get tired when Lena walked into the room, "Hello Bianca. I was told you might be here. I'm happy I ran into you." "Hi Lena. You're a welcome sight for my very sore eyes. Please, sit down. Is there something I can do for you?"  
  
"Well actually I was hoping to do something for you." Lena said with a very wide smile. Bianca's face lit up in a hurry, "I like the sound of that. What exactly did you have in mind?" "I was thinking of a nice dinner at that Italian Restaurant just down the street from work and perhaps some dancing and then maybe a moonlight swim down by the lake." "Oh that sounds wonderful. I just need to go home and get in a quick little nap and then I'd be happy to join you for dinner."  
  
Lena looked right into Bianca's eyes, "I'd love to tuck you in for that nap, but for now I'll just wish you pleasant dreams." "Thank you. How about 8 then?" Bianca asked, her eyes enjoying Lena's pretty face as well as well as the sparkling smile she was flashing.  
  
"8 is good for me as well." Lena added, her sexy accent making even the simplest of words sound oh so sexy. "Great, I'll see ya then. Bye." Bianca smiled and watched Lena walk slowly away, her hips swaying from side to side as she waved over her shoulders and walked out the door.  
  
Joni was back home sitting in her room at her desk doing some homework when the phone rang. She casually picked it up, "Hello?" "Hi Joni, it's me." Laurie paused for a moment hoping Joni would say something but no such luck, "Okay then, well I was hoping we could talk a little." "Why?" Joni snapped, "You said more than enough today. Did you want to tell me what else I can and can't do?"  
  
Laurie was sitting at her computer desk rolling her eyes at Joni's attitude, ""I don't know why you're so mad. I was just looking out for you." "Right. You just didn't want to me to be at the party and you sure didn't want me going with..." Joni hated that she couldn't remember the guy's name.  
  
"Oh right, no name guy. I can just imagine the conversation you'll have." Laurie took a moment to clear her voice and then chose a very mocking voice to continue. It would go something like this, 'Oh Joni. You're so pretty tonight. That dress looks so sexy on you.' and you would say, 'Thank you, and you look great to Mr. blank, blank, blank no name guy.' " "Very funny!" Joni said, acknowledging Laurie's sarcasm, "I know his name. I just can't think of it at the moment. Doesn't matter. He likes me and he wants to go to the party with me."  
  
"God Joni, listen, how about we just go to the park and talk there. I don't want to fight with you." Laurie said, her voice trailing off at the end. Joni felt her anger turn to regret in an instant, "Okay, you're right. I'll meet you there in a half hour.  
  
Back at Fusion Greenlee and Simone were working on a new proposal when Kendall came wandering in with a large box in her hands. She sat it down on the table, opened it up, waved her hands and called everyone over to have a look at her little surprise. Greenlee and Simone rushed over and peaked inside the large cardboard box and both their eyes lit up as they saw what was inside.  
  
Kendall reached inside and pulled out a large briefcase filled with cash and sat it on the table beside the box. Both Simone and Greenlee reached in and grabbed a handful of the money, which was neatly stacked $100 bills, with a 100 bills per pile.  
  
"Well, isn't anyone going to say thank you?" Kendall asked with a big smile on her face. Simone shook her head, grinned at Kendall and then looked over at Greenlee who was not quite as happy, "What's the matter Greenlee?"  
  
"Everything!" she screamed then walked over to Kendall with unequaled speed, "Okay, where on earth did you get this?" "Calm down Greenlee. I didn't rob a bank or anything. I sold the one item of value I had and well, even I had no idea it was worth this much."  
  
Simone was flipping through the wads of cash when she focused on the Kendall's last statement, "Just exactly how much money are we talking about here?" "$75,000." Kendall said the amount and waited for the reactions and as she saw both women with their mouths wide open, she knew she'd achieved her goal, "I know, it's amazing. It was this old ring my mom, my real mom gave me when I was 18. I didn't want to sell it but we need some cash flow here. I'll buy it back once we all become rich in a few years."  
  
"I can't believe this. First of all you shouldn't have Kendall; we can get by without this." Greenlee said, speaking as her best friend then quickly took another look at all the money and switched to businesswoman Greenlee. "On the other hand, since you have already done this I guess we should put the money to work for us and start buying some equipment and get to work on a new formula and get started hiring some staff and really get this company off the ground."  
  
Mia walked in to see the three girls smiling and laughing and playing with all that money and wasn't sure what to think. Simone saw her first and slid away from the other two and grabbed Mia and took her into the storage room and closed the door behind them, "I'm glad your here. Now before you can say anything I just want to say sorry again for today. I should have mentioned more about my past and that was wrong."  
  
Mia gave Simone a slight smile to show she wasn't mad anymore then put her hand around hers and squeezed it tightly, "It's okay, really. I just couldn't deal with it right there, especially with Greenlee sitting with us. I felt like I was betrayed at first, but I know we both had other lives before we met and I guess I over reacted a little." "While were into this whole honesty thing is there anything you want to tell me about your past?"  
  
"I think you know most of it. I had a child when I was very young and gave it up for adoption and I haven't had any experiences with other girls before if that's what you're asking?" "No, I just wanted us to start off on the right track and now I have to tell you something that might just push us off track again." Mia said softly, then pulled away and walked a couple feet away and leaned against a shelving unit, "This is not something that should get in the way of us, but it might seem big when you first hear it. Although I have no idea how you will take it."  
  
Mia rolled her eyes at Simone's long-winded avoidance speech, "Oh come on Simone, just tell me already." "Okay, here goes, I kissed Greenlee." Simone saw Mia's eyes pop out of her head and knew she had to speak fast before it got out of hand, "Wait though. This was long before I even knew you. I was living with Greenlee and I don't know what happened but one night we kissed. We were interrupted, and it never happened again. Actually we've rarely talked about it since."  
  
"Alright. I'm glad you told me but I'm still a bit confused here. Do you kiss all your roommates?" Mia asked half-joking and half-serious. "No, of course not." Simone said sharply as if she'd been insulted. "It's just that I was lonely at the time. She was in the middle of a Leo crisis and we were talking and then the next thing we knew we were kissing. Before anything else could happen, her parent's were at the door and we just never get around to talking about. She got back with Leo and I got mixed up with her dad and that's that."  
  
"That's enough information thanks. I am glad you told me and I hope we are all done with secrets then." Mia asked. Simone walked over to Mia again, put her arms around her waist and gave her a soft kiss on the lips, "Yes, I think we can find better things to do than fight over the past. Now, where were we?" Simone smiled and soon began kissing Mia passionately until they both heard a loud scream from Greenlee and they both rushed back into the room. 


	2. Chapter Two

Part Two  
  
Inside, Kendall lay on the floor bleeding horribly from a wound in her stomach and Greenlee lying over her with a long knife in her hand. "OMG. Greenlee, what have you done?" Simone shouted. Mia ran to the phone, called 911. She then grabbed some towels from a closet and tried to stop the bleeding as much as she could while Simone helped Greenlee to her feet and sat her down in the chair and had her put the knife on the table and tried to calm her down and find out what on earth happened, "Greenlee. Greenlee. GREENLEE?"  
  
"What? I'm here, what's the matter with you. Stop screaming my name like that." Greenlee gave Simone a dirty look and then turned to see Kendall on the floor bleeding, she let out a very loud scream, and just as she was about to pass out Simone rushed over, put her arms around her and again sat her back on the chair.  
The emergency team arrived less then 15 minutes after Mia called and quickly began working on Kendall. Giving her air to breathe right away and stopping the bleeding before they put her on the stretcher and took her down to the ambulance and drove her to the hospital.  
  
One man stayed behind and started asking questions, "Hi, my name is Detective Frank Stapleton and I'm an off duty police officer and I need to ask you some questions." "Listen, can we do this later. We really need to be with our friend at the hospital." Mia said as she put on her jacket and went over to get Simone and Greenlee. "Just a second, what's that knife doing beside you two?" the man asked as he walked towards the table and had a long look at the knife.  
  
"I don't know. It was here when we got back. Kendall was on the floor and we didn't see a thing." Simone lied quickly and then noticed the briefcase with all the money was gone as well, "Look, over there. We had some money here, a large sum of money and now it's gone. Sure looks like robbery to me." The detective was trying to follow things but everyone was talking at once, "Slow down. What money?"  
  
"Can we please do this at the hospital? I want to make sure Kendall is okay." Mia pleaded again. "Okay, okay. I'll drive you." the man had a look at Greenlee who seemed to be in an almost catatonic state, "What's wrong with her? She doesn't look very good."  
  
"She's just shook up. She found Kendall on the floor bleeding and I think she's in shock." Simone answered again as she held Greenlee up and began walking to the elevators. The man then grabbed his cell phone and called for the crime lab to come secure the place and make sure nobody else got in then took the elevator downstairs and drove the girls to the hospital.  
  
Joni was sitting at the park bench when Laurie showed up and she quickly got up, greeted her with a smile and a hug and then sat down together. "Let me start okay." Laurie said before she actually sat down on the bench. "That's fine." Joni said softly.  
  
"This whole thing with us is very confusing for me. First JR breaks up with me then I kiss Jamie and then we kiss. I just think it's like too much at one time and I snapped. I still shouldn't have took it out on you. I'm sorry for that." Laurie said as she maintained eye contact with Joni. the whole time. "I understand the being confused thing alot. I mean I was brought up in a very religious family and this is just not something I even considered could happen to me." Joni's confusion was just as evident as Laurie's and neither seemed to know what to do next.  
  
"Well, what should we do about this?" Laurie asked hoping for some great solution from Joni, but it didn't come so she continued, "I'd be lying if I said I didn't like kissing you. I like you to, a lot. I liked JR and Jamie to. Right now, I can't even think of them. I can't seem to get you out of my head now. Joni smiled when she heard the last comment from Laurie, "Really? I feel the same way about you. I just feel so confused about it. What does it mean? What should we do?"  
  
"I don't know. What do you want to do? We could just pretend it didn't happen and never talk about it again." Laurie paused just a little to see if Joni wanted this option but after a long pause she continued, "I don't want to forget about this. I don't think I could if I tried. Maybe we should kiss again and see if there's anything there? Any spark?" Joni's eyes widened at that idea, "Yes, I think we should, just to find out for sure."  
  
The two girls looked around, saw the park seemed was empty so they leaned in very slowly, had a very soft kiss and quickly pulled away. They looked into each other's eyes and quickly leaned in for a much longer, harder kiss and in seconds were kissing passionately on the park bench with no concern for who might see them at all. As they pulled back from the latest kiss their hearts were both pounding extremely fast and they were both very, very warm all of a sudden and as they looked at each other they knew this wasn't going to just go away.  
  
"Well, that was something." Laurie said with a sigh. "Oh yes, it was very good. So what does this mean?" Joni asked, anticipation, excitement and confusion all mixing together as she spoke. "I wish I knew." Laurie said with a shrug of her shoulders, "Maybe we shouldn't analyze it anymore. If something is going to happen between us I'm all for it. If not, I will never forget how it feels to kiss your soft lips."  
  
"You turn me on when you say things like that." Joni smiled and blushed a little at the same time, "I don't want you to forget what it's like to kiss me either so maybe we should make sure that never happens." With that she leaned in and kissed Laurie once more and this time they just let loose and were kissing wildly on the park bench, hands moving up and down each other's backs and being tempted to move elsewhere but still being so unsure of what to do.  
  
Finally, Laurie made a move. She slid her hand up and under Joni's sweater and put her hand over her very round breasts. Joni held Laurie's hand close to her chest and just kissed her that much harder. As if they'd forgotten where they were Joni slid her hands under Laurie's shirt and was soon caressing her very large firm breasts.  
  
Joni. was about to undo some of Laurie's buttons when they heard a noise in front of them and both jumped away from each other and adjusted their tops and looked to see who was there. Jamie walked in and waved to the two girls who waved back and stood up as he walked towards them. "Hey there. I hope this means you two have worked out your problems?" Laurie smiled at Joni and then looked back at Jamie, "You could say that. We got some things off our chests, so to speak." Joni let out a laugh at Laurie's choice of words and Jamie couldn't quite see what was so funny, "Inside joke?" "Kind of, so what are you doing here?" Joni asked as she slid back closer to Laurie. "I had to get something from my dad and this is the best shortcut to his place." "You should probably get going then if it's important." Laurie suggested as nicely as she could. "I guess so. I'll call you tonight and we can talk about the party tomorrow. You two have fun then. Glad you're back talking again." Jamie then took off and was out of sight moments later. Joni grabbed Laurie's hands and shook her head at what they almost did, "That was close. If he was a bit quieter he might have walked in on something he'd never forget." "If he saw us kissing he wouldn't want to forget it either." Laurie joked, then just as quickly got serious again, "Now I don't know what to do about this party. He really wants to go and I don't. I want to spend the night with you. If you want to that is." "Of course that's what I want." Joni said as she smiled back at Laurie. "Well, maybe we can still make this happen. I know it's not very nice to do but we could go to the party the sneak out after we make an appearance and spend the rest of the night doing anything we want." "I like that. Especially the anything part" Laurie said with a sexy smiled, "Still, I can't do that to Jamie. It's not fair. I'm not sure I'm ready to tell him I want to spend all my time with you instead of him either. Why is everything so complicated?" Joni reached down, put her hand on Laurie's and held her close, "Who knows. The only way were going to have a chance together is if you break it off with him." "That's the thing. We're not really going out. We were going to this party together but not as a couple. Maybe he wouldn't be that upset if I didn't go." "I think your gonna have to talk to him tomorrow then. If he's upset he'll get over it though. He sure got over me fast enough." Joni said the last part with a bit more bitterness than she had intended. "I don't think he was over you. He just wanted to act like it. I do have an idea that might work here. Let's go back to my place and I'll tell you about it on the way." Laurie led the way back to her place and the two girls faded out of view still holding hands and not even aware of it.  
  
Bianca was home rummaging through her closet for something to wear for her date with Lena and it wasn't surprising she hated everything she had in her very large walk in closet. She fell back on the bed in her underwear and threw her head back on the pillow and let out a mock scream at her situation and as she got up to continue the search her phone ran and she picked it up, "Hello?" "Hi Bianca, it's Maggie. Listen I feel really bad about ditching you today. Did you find what you were looking for?" "I found some helpful things I was looking for and one I didn't expect at all." Bianca said as she rifled through every single outfit she owned. "Oh and what didn't you expect?" "It's nothing really. Lena dropped by to see me and asked me out to dinner. Isn't that great?" Bianca said trying to sound as excited as possible. "Yes, that's wonderful. I didn't know she was, well, I didn't know she..." Maggie stammered through that sentence not knowing how to word what she was trying to say, then moved on, "I'm glad you're going out though." Bianca got a chuckle out of Maggie's awkward moment, "You don't know if she's what? You mean a lesbian?" Maggie didn't want to get into all that and tried to change the subject, "It's great you're going to have dinner with her. I'm happy for you. I hope she's the one." "I have no idea about that." Bianca said softly, "She's just someone who wants to have dinner with me and I'm not in a position to turn down offers like that." "You're right. I don't know her well, but I'm sure she's a nice person." Maggie paused again not sure of what else to say. "She seems nice. She may have her own agenda going, but I'm well aware of that and am not going into this with my eyes closed. I am just having dinner and will see where it takes us." Bianca said calmly as she held another dress up against her body then quickly hung it up again. "That's a good idea. Take it slow and don't do anything you might regret." "Good advice." Bianca smiled, "Listen, if it's not too late did you want to help me pick out something to wear? I am having no luck at all. I hate all these clothes and none of them looks good on me. Or at least that's how it feels." Maggie thought over the offer, weighed the good and the bad and decided the good was much more important and that was helping Bianca when she needed it, "Sure, I was going to offer to help with your project, but I can certainly help you find something to wear. I've seen some of your dresses and they are very sexy so this will be easy." "I hope you're right. I will see you soon then. Thanks Maggie." Bianca said sincerely and put down her cell.  
  
At the hospital Mia, Simone and Greenlee were standing at the information desk trying to get information on Kendall, but with all three of them talking at once, the nurse was having a very tough time doing her job. "Ladies please, only one person talk at a time." the nurse said in her most polite, yet irritated voice. Greenlee turned to Mia and Simone and they both became quiet almost instantly, then she smiled and turned back to the nurse, "Okay, sorry. We are looking for information on our friend. She has a knife wound to her stomach. Her name is Kendall Hart. She's Erica Kane's daughter." "Let me check the recent admissions. One moment please." the nurse said in a monotone voice as she began searching the computer for some information. The detective walked over to the three girls who were milling about waiting for word on Kendall's condition, "Hi ladies. We just got a preliminary report of a man fleeing the office you work in with a briefcase in hand. The description we got from an eyewitness, who was knocked over by the suspect, said he was about 5'11, 165 pounds, short dark hair, wearing a denim jacket with, navy blue sweat pants and a NY Yankees ball cap on his head. Does any of that sound familiar to you?" All three girls started picturing the description but it didn't fit with anyone they knew and told the detective as much. "Alright, well if you think of anything else please call me. Here's my card." He said as he handed Greenlee his business card. "We have a forensics team in your office at this moment. They will probably be there for another 3 to 4 hours, but you should have someone there when they leave so you can lock up when they're done." the detective turned to walk away and then stopped, "One last thing, If I were you I would find a more secure office than the one you have. Any stranger can just ride the elevator up to your floor and walk into your place of business with no security checkpoints to pass through. In this day and age, you have to be aware of this. If you want some help setting up some secure doors to your lobby I can give you some very good references." "Thank you very much." Mia said with a gracious smile, "I think we'll be doing that in the future. As soon as you find the money that man stole we can get to work on that and so many other things." Greenlee moved forward and had her say as well, "Yes, finding the thief and getting our money back should be your first concern. Whoever did this to Kendall needs to pay. Big time. You need to find this guy fast." "We have some very good leads and we believe your elevator has a video camera installed so we should be able to get a more complete ID of this person. If so, finding him will be that much quicker. Thank you for your time. I hope your friend is going be okay. Good-bye." Detective Stapleton smiled at the girls and walked out the door. "At least he seemed nice." Greenlee said, her anger subsiding just briefly, "I feel like maybe they will find this guy and he will get what he deserves." "I hope so to. We all want that." Simone added as she looked back at the nurse who was still doing something on her computer. The nurse then lifted her head up from the computer, "I have found your friend. It says she is in surgery, when she comes out of surgery, we will have more information. The estimate for this surgery is 45 minutes, and then it all depends on how the patient responds as to when you can visit her. The injury log says it's not life threatening so if there are no complications with the surgery she should make a full recovery." "Thank you very much." Greenlee said with a big sigh of relief and gratitude, "We'll wait in the waiting room over there. Please let us know when we can see her, as soon as possible." "Yes, of course." the nurse said then proceeded to the next person in line. The three girls walked over to the waiting area, sat down on the soft chairs and waited for the next bit of news.  
  
Laurie led Joni into her house and she checked around to see if her dad was around and thankfully he wasn't so they headed up to her room. Once inside Laurie closed the door, locked it, took off her coat and hopped on her bed. Joni took her time removing her jacket as she was studying Laurie's room for the first time. Even though they had been friends for a couple years, they'd never been to the other's home. Joni felt her parent's were just too strict and Laurie was afraid her dad would cause a scene so they stuck to meeting at school or the park or the little diner near the park to talk and do homework together. Laurie's room had movie posters and some very abstract paintings covering the walls. She had a very neat little desk in one corner with a modest computer on it and in the other corner was a dresser and she had a fair size walk in closet beside her bed. Joni finally took off her coat, sat down beside Laurie on the bed and watched as she went through an address book until she found the name she was looking for. Laurie picked up her phone, looked at the number in front of her and then began to dial the number. She looked over at a confused Joni. "Just wait and see." The phone rang at the other end and a female voice picked up the phone and said, "Hello." "Hi Katie, it's Laurie. I was wondering if you were going to that party tomorrow night at Eddie's house?" "I'm not sure." Katie replied as she flipped through her CD collection. "Jamie mentioned going with me a couple weeks ago but I haven't heard from him since." "Well, I just talked to him and he is still interested in going with you but I guess he heard some rumor you were going with Doug instead so he was confused about what to do." Laurie was crossing her fingers at the little white lie she was telling, but thought it was for a good cause. "What? I don't even like Doug and he's never asked me out. God I hate high school. There's so many stupid rumors and all that gossip. If you talk to him again tell him to call me please. Or better yet give me his number and I'll clear this up myself right now." "That's a great idea. I know he'd be happy to hear from you." Laurie then gave Jamie's number to Katie and then hung up with a big smile on her face. Joni was in awe at how smoothly Laurie was and how perfectly she manipulated the situation, "OMG that was so amazing. You are a very clever girl." "Well thank you. I know they like each other and in the end Jamie will be much happier with her." Joni "I guess we have to decide what to tell Jamie if were not going to the party?" Laurie stood up and started thinking and pacing back in forth, "Wait, one thing first, did that guy really ask you to the party?" "Yes, he did. I just said no. I just brought that up because I felt bad about you going without me." Joni explained as she stood up and walked slowly towards Laurie. "Well then, we just tell him your date fell through and I'll say I want to stay and keep you company." Laurie said with a smile thinking the whole problem was now officially solved. Joni though was not pleased with how this turned out, "I'm not sure I like that. Makes me seem all needy and weak because a guy stood me up. I wouldn't need you to hold my hand over that." Laurie smiled at Joni, who didn't seem to appreciate it at the time, but as she put her hand around Joni's waist and kissed her softly Joni's icy shell melted away, "Maybe it's a good thing I'm there to hold your hand through this troubling time. Who knows what could happen after. Are you still set against this idea?" "You sure are a very persuasive girl. I bet you can talk me into doing anything for you." Joni said in her softest sexiest voice. "Why don't we just see about that. I'm thinking I want to kiss you right now, is that what you want?" Laurie asked as she kissed all around Joni's soft full lips. Joni didn't answer with words, but instead put her lips on Laurie's and again the two girls were kissing like crazy. The two girls slowly moved over to the bed, still kissing and had begun to move their hands all over each other's bodies when Joni stopped and sat up abruptly. Laurie sat up, looked at Joni and saw a look of confusion on her face, "What's wrong? Don't you want to keep going?" "I don't know. I mean, I do and I don't. It's just happening so fast." "I guess it is. I feel so close to you right now and it just seemed to perfect." Laurie said softly, trying to explain how she saw it. "You're right though." Joni said with some renewed enthusiasm she had lost earlier, "I feel so close to you right now it's scary. I feel like I've known you all my life and we aren't some strangers meeting for the first time. Why is this so hard?" Laurie ran her fingers through Joni's long blonde hair and tried to comfort her, "I know, it's different that's all. In many ways, I feel like we already know each other more than we ever would some stranger we might date. It would take years to know them this well so it's like we've been able to skip the whole dating process because we've done it for the past few years." "That's so true, yet this part of our friendship is certainly new. I don't know, it just feels like maybe we're rushing it. Or maybe it's just hormones and we can't control ourselves when we start kissing." Joni laughed at first, but felt a real sense that they needed to wait before they took the next step. "I think you're right. I just can't help it, when I kiss you I get so hot and excited and I want you so bad. God it's really such a good feeling to have." "I know, I feel the same about you. You are so pretty. I want to kiss you so much. We can kiss still, right?" Joni asked as if Laurie knew the rules to all this. Laurie smiled at such a question, "Well yes of course we can kiss and we will kiss. But for now, we'll just wait until we're both ready before we take the next step. I guess we should see if we can stand being around each other so much before we do anything else." Joni nodded agreement, the two girls hugged again and soon they were back kissing and were going at it very hot and heavy when Laurie's dad knocked on her door. The two girls stopped the kiss that second, Joni sat down in the chair and Laurie took a breath and then opened the door.  
  
Maggie arrived at Bianca's place fairly quickly and was told to come by Bianca and so she did and so she made her way through her place and was a bit surprised to see Bianca standing in her bra and panties holding a dress up against her body. "Hi. I see you're in the middle of changing, I should wait outside." Maggie said as she turned to walk away. "Maggie, come on. Is this uncomfortable for you?" Bianca asked as she made eye contact with her, "I can put some clothes on if it helps, but I will be taking them off every single time I try on something new. We've seen each other like this before. Please stay." "Okay, of course I'll stay. I didn't want to just barge in on you if you weren't ready is all. Anyway, let me have a look at what's in your closet here and I'll see what I like." Bianca's face was glowing, as it always did when Maggie was around, "Thank you so much. I just can't be objective and really think everything looks horrible on me, so your a life saver." Maggie smiled back at her and then looked through her very large wardrobe and picked out 5 outfits and came back and sat them on the bed in a row, "Here's my first 5 picks. These will all look great on you. Try them on and let's have a look." With a big smile on her face Bianca picked the first dress, a long flowing red strapless dress that really showed off her figure perfectly and really showed ample cleavage, while still remaining highly elegant at the same time. Bianca pulled it up and over and Maggie zipped it up in the back and she walked over to the mirror, had a look and then turned around and saw how nicely it fit in the back as well and then looked back at Maggie, "Well, what'ya think?" Maggie just gave Bianca a very big smile, "You look beautiful in that dress. I do like red on you. It hugs your curves just right and is sexy and yet not trashy so I love it." "I don't know. Don't you think it's a little to revealing up top here?" Bianca said as she pointed to her breasts. "Have you never heard the saying, "If you've got it, flaunt it", well you've got it Bianca and it's not really even flaunting it. You can't hide your breasts all the time. Let's be honest, you shouldn't have to." Bianca blushed and then turned to face the mirror and still couldn't get over how she looked in the dress, "Maybe your right. Let me try on the others and compare." With that, Bianca grabbed the next outfit, which was a much sexier one, a sparkly blue little dressy halter-top and a very short matching blue and silver skirt. She looked in the mirror and this time was very conscious of her thighs being so exposed, but turned to Maggie for her opinion. Maggie walked in a circle around Bianca and liked what she saw, "Now that is hot. Not sure what look you want for this date but if you wore that you'd sure make an impression." "Maybe I'll save this for another time then. I'm glad you think it's hot though. I'll remember that for sure." Bianca then slipped out of that outfit and grabbed the next one and pulled it on. This time she had on a very tight white dress, skin tight to be exact. It was low-cut, but not as much as the first dress and the dress was down to just above her knees so it was much longer than the other one to. Maggie really seemed to like this one, "OMG, this is the one. It's like this dress was made to be worn by you. Look at yourself in the mirror there. You are such a sex woman. Let me tell you something, white works for you. It does." "God you make me feel so good. It's kind of tight though isn't it? I always thought tight was seen as slutty? Is that wrong?" Bianca asked, truly not sure of how she looked to others. "No, this is not a slutty dress, not even close. It's beautiful, sexy, elegant and it's so perfect on you it's stunning. Makes me wish I were the one you were wearing this for." Maggie said the words before she realized it. "Really? You'd want me to wear this for you?" Bianca said, her voice full of renewed enthusiasm for a brief moment, then trailed off as she continued, "I thought you didn't want to...never mind, I know you were just being nice. Anyway, I don't think I will wear this for tonight. It's just not the right one." Maggie felt bad and yet wasn't sure what to do to make it better, "I did mean it. I think you look so beautiful in that dress. You should wear it for a special occasion." Bianca was already taking the dress off when the phone rang. She grabbed her cell and was surprised to hear Greenlee's voice on the other end, "Hi Bianca. I'm at the hospital. Kendall is here. She's in surgery right now for a knife wound. The nurse said she will be fine, but they have to do some damage control first. I thought you should know and maybe you could tell Erica to." "What, someone stabbed her? Where? How? I'll call mom and we'll be right there." Bianca hung up the phone and began searching for her clothes. Maggie heard the word stabbed and new something bad had happened, "What's going on? Who got stabbed?" "It was Kendall. She's in surgery now. I just have to be there." Maggie was quick to jump in with her support, "Of course. Let me go with you." "Thanks, I really do need you there." Bianca finished dressing and the two girls rushed out the door moments later. 


	3. Chapter Three

Part Three  
  
Back at the hospital, Joe Martin came out to talk to Greenlee, Mia and Simone. The three girls rushed up to him and listened anxiously to what he said, "Kendall is out of surgery and she's responding well so things are looking good for a full recovery. She's a strong young woman and she should be ready to see visitor's in about 30 minutes." "Thank you so much." Greenlee said and gave him a big hug and then did the same to Mia and Simone. As they were hugging Greenlee's cell phone went off so she stepped away and answered it, "Hello."  
  
"Hi Greenlee. It's Michael Cambias. Do you know where Kendall is? She's supposed to bring me some papers and she's late." "Well she has a reason for being late Michael, she was stabbed and just got out of surgery." Greenlee said trying to stay calm. "Oh, really? So she's okay though right?" Michael asked very calmly. "Aside from having a hole in her stomach I guess she's on her way to doing okay. She still needs you here."  
  
"I'll try and make it after my meeting. Just tell her I love her and if you could ask her where those papers were she was supposed to bring me that would be great." Michael was at a restaurant as he talked to Greenlee and he was waving down a waiter to fill his wine glass as he ignored Greenlee's very loud response. "What the hell is your problem? She's in the hospital and you need to get her now. Forget that damn meeting. Kendall should be your priority right now. Enough being so cold and get your ass over her now!." Greenlee's voice was growing louder after each sentence.  
  
"Listen Greenlee, I have to go now, just take care of Kendall and I'll check Fusion to see if the paper's are there. Thanks. Bye." he didn't wait for an answer, just turned his cell off, and sat down and then promptly got up as Erica walked in the room. "Hello Michael. If this is another attempt to take over Enchantment I will just be leaving." Erica said, choosing not to sit down until she got this cleared up. Michael acted modestly offended, "Of course it's not Erica. I just wanted to discuss a mutual acquaintance of ours. "And who would that be?"  
  
Michael took a sip of win and looked back at Erica, "Chris Stamp. He's becoming a bit of nuisance and I'd like you to get him off my back or well, I fear he's due for an accident. I'd really like to avoid that if I could." Erica sat down across from him and was very upset at his last statement, "Are you threatening Chris? Just how do you know him anyway?" "I'm not making any threats Erica." Michael said as he poured himself a drink. "I just feel he needs to stop bothering me. I believe you could help persuade him to do this." "Listen, I don't control Chris. He's a grown man and can do what he wants." Erica explained, then changed the tone of her voice as she continued, "Now, you may be rich and you may have some power, but if you touch Chris Stamp you will be sorry. This is not a threat, it's a promise." "I see. I had no idea you could be so alluring when you get nasty." Michael said with a smile, then leaned over and put his hands on Erica's, "I have to say I like what I see. Why don't you and I go back up to my room and we can discuss this further. I'm sure we can come to some kind of arrangement concerning Mr. Stamp."  
  
Erica pulled her hands away from Michael and stood up, "You make me sick. Do you really believe I'd fall for your line of bull? Kendall may be naive and fall for your lines right now, but she's anything but a dumb girl and she will figure you out to. One last thing, Kendall isn't my favorite person in the world, but if you hurt her you will live to regret it." Erica didn't wait for Michael to try and talk his way out of this and just walked out the door. Michael sat in his chair with a very angry look on his face and he took out his cell phone and made a called, "We need to talk. Meet me at the pier in one hour. I have a job for you."  
  
Laurie's dad wasn't drunk this time but he was still not thrilled to see Joni in his house without permission, "What did I tell you about bringing home strangers?" "Dad, she's not a stranger. It's Joni, my best friend for the last two years. You've met her many times." "I don't care who she is. You know the rules. Nobody in the house when I'm not home." he then walked into Laurie's bedroom and grabbed Joni by the arm. "Stop it dad. Let her go." Laurie said and tried to pull him off Joni.  
  
Joni felt something bad was about to happen so she tried to help the situation out, "It's okay Laurie. I have to go." Laurie's dad let go of Joni's arm and just followed her to the front door and watched her leave. He then turned back to Laurie, "Just what is going on with you? It's one thing after another isn't it? Just break the rules and then get mad when I tell you not to. Well, this one is gonna cost you. You're grounded for two weeks." "Dad! Come on. I didn't do anything wrong. You said nobody in the house at night when you're not around. This was after school and it was only Joni. We were studying is all." Laurie stretched the truth a bit more than she wanted, but was adamant that getting grounded was unfair.  
  
Laurie's dad walked into the kitchen, grabbed a beer from the fridge, sat down and turned the TV on. Since he didn't answer, Laurie tried again, "Dad, please don't do this. Can we at least meet in the middle here?" Her dad took a drink of beer and turned to his daughter, "Fine, one week. If you do it again it's a month. Now, leave me alone I want to watch the game." Laurie still thought it was unfair but didn't push it and went back to her room and slammed the door and jumped on her bed. As she lay there, she noticed a picture of her and Joni. at last year's dance and she picked it up and put her finger up to her lips and then placed it on Joni's face and smiled and lie back down with the picture against her chest.  
  
Bianca and Maggie walked into the emergency room, saw Greenlee, Mia and Simone and walked over to them. Greenlee took a step forward, "Hi Bianca, Maggie, we just talked to Joe Martin and Kendall is going to be fine. She's resting in her room right now but things are looking up for her." "Oh god, I'm glad to hear that. Has anyone seen her yet?" Bianca asked as she looked at the three girls.  
  
"Not yet, but it has been a half hour so I would think we probably could now. Let me go ask the nurse." Greenlee walked over to the information desk and after some talking and some computer checking Greenlee turned with the thumbs up and they all went down the hall and then down another long corridor and finally were outside Kendall's room. One of the nurse's at the station came running over to put a stop to the girls as they were about to go into Kendall's room, "Stop right there, only one visitor at a time. The rest of you can wait in the lobby over there or take a seat to the side and wait your turn." "Okay, thank you." Bianca said politely and then turned to the others, "Could I see her first? I won't take long and then you can all take your turns?"  
  
Mia stepped forward, "Yes, of course Bianca, go ahead." Bianca smiled and walked into the room and saw Kendall lying on her bed looking so very fragile and vulnerable and it was tough to see. She sat down in the chair beside the bed and tried to think of what to say. As she was doing that Kendall opened her eye's just a little and saw Bianca sitting there and managed to find a way to speak, "Hey there sis." she said in a very soft voice, "You don't have to be here you know."  
  
Bianca was not surprised at Kendall's response and part of her knew it meant she was on her way to recovery, "I know Kendall. I want to be here. In spite of our differences we are still sisters and I care about you." "I guess mom isn't quite as caring as you are." Kendall coughed as she said it and took a sip of the water she was given and looked back at Bianca who looked so sad and worried and Kendall wasn't really used to that, "I'm fine. You can stop looking at me as if I'm gonna die. You're not that lucky."  
  
"Stop it." Bianca said, knowing Kendall was just being sarcastic, "I'm here to show you I care. You have all your friends outside waiting to see you, I will call mom, and of course, she will come visit. She probably hasn't been told yet." "Don't hold your breath on that." Kendall tried to sit up and it only made her stomach hurt more and she winced in pain and Bianca got up and wanted to do something but she couldn't make the pain go away. "Are you okay? Should I get a nurse?"  
  
"It's okay. I just moved wrong. Could you send in the girls?" Kendall asked as she took another drink of the water in front of her. "Sure, you only get one visitor at a time though. I'll let them decide. You take care now okay. I'll be back tomorrow to see how your doing." Bianca smiled at Kendall then got up and walked outside to where the girls were. "She's in a lot of pain but she can talk a little. I wouldn't stay too long though. She probably needs even more rest." "Thanks Bianca." Greenlee then turned to Mia and Simone, "Could I go in first?"  
  
Mia and Simone nodded yes and Greenlee smiled and walked into the room. She sat down in the chair, put a happy smile on her face and just started talking, "I guess you won't be into to work tomorrow?" "I know, I'm a slacker." Kendall laughed as she said it then winced again at the pain it caused in her stomach. She settled herself and looked back at Greenlee, "Have you called Michael yet?" Greenlee did not want to answer that question but knew she had to say something, "Well, he'll be here as soon as he can. I did talk to him though." "I know he'll be here then. That's all I wanted to know." Kendall then closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.  
  
Lena was at home getting ready for her date with Bianca when the doorbell rang. She put down the dress she was looking at, walked into the living room and opened the door. "Hello Lena," Erica walked past the tall brunette, and sat down on the couch, put her purse on the end table and waited for Lena to take a seat across from her before she continued, "We need to talk." "What about?" Erica was not thrilled with Lena's response, "I think you know what. I believe you are interested in my daughter. Is that correct?"  
  
"Yes, she's a very lovely woman. Do you not approve?" asked Lena as she got up and poured herself some coffee. "Actually I haven't decided yet." Erica got up and joined Lena at the table, "I do tend to wonder about people who can't keep eye contact and who are always finding ways to avoid a real conversation though." Lena looked down at the much shorter Erica and tried to remain eye contact as she responded, "I'm not. I'm sorry. You're just so intimidating. I feel uncomfortable around you."  
  
"I somehow doubt that. I know confidence and you have all kinds. So the question is, who exactly are you trying to fool here?" Erica asked bluntly and studied Lena's face as she began thinking of her answer. Lena again looked away and then walked away, then turned back to Erica, "This isn't easy for me to say. I don't think it's something you need to know, but I feel as though by holding this back it may be seen as a lie and I don't want that." "No, you shouldn't want that. Let's hear it."  
  
Lena moved back to the couch, crossed her long slender legs, sat down her coffee cup and looked right at Erica, "I'm not exactly who I've said I am. I mean, my name is Lena, but the background I gave you in the job interview wasn't entirely true. My father is Dimitri Gregoriev. He's a very powerful man. He has many connections worldwide and he helped get me the job at Enchantment by pulling a few strings and calling in some favors." "I have heard of him. I haven't met him but I know we run in some of the same circles. Still, this doesn't seem like the reason you're so nervous. I'll give you one last chance to come clean or I start digging into your past and see what I can find." Lena stood up and shouted, "NO!. Please don't."  
  
Erica was puzzled by this outburst and was very curious as to what was going on, "Calm down. I suggest you stop playing games and tell me what your secret is and do it now." "I don't know. I can't. He'll kill me." Lena said, her voice shaking, as were her hands as she tried to hold her coffee mug. "Who will kill you?" Erica asked, still unsure what the truth was and what was an act from Lena anymore. Lena began to cry and soon was sobbing with her hands over her face. Finally, she looked up at Erica, wiped away the tears and then reached into her purse and pulled out her wallet and handed it to Erica.  
  
As Erica read the name on the birth certificate she took a step backwards and then balanced herself on the side of the couch. She flipped through the rest of the wallet and aside from the one fake ID that listed Lena as her name all the rest of the information inside had very different name. "This can't be true. It's not possible." Erica looked over at Lena and saw that she was holding some pictures in her hand. She got up, walked over to her, took the pictures and was shocked at what she saw.  
  
"I'm sorry it had to come out like this. He wanted me to keep it a secret. This is going to devastate him if it gets out." "Why didn't you just tell me this at the start? Why are you talking about being killed?" Erica questioned as she looked at the pictures one more time. Lena was still very upset about the secret coming out and it showed, "It's what he wanted. I came to Pine Valley to meet my father. I haven't seen him since I was born. He doesn't even know I'm here. It's my stepfather that I'm worried about, he's a very powerful man and dangerous man."  
  
"I know a little about secrets and I know they always come back to haunt you." Erica was well aware of how secrets have cost her in her life and also remembered the lengths she used to go to keep them hidden, "I can't tell you want to do but if your here to see Joe Martin you should call him first and let him know your in town and see what he says. Joe is a good man so I'm sure he'll see you regardless of how difficult this will be on him. "I'm not here to ruin his life or cause him any trouble. I just want to see him." Lena said, looking right at Erica. There was something about Lena's voice that sounded so much more sincere now and for the first time since she'd arrived, she was starting to believe this was the truth, "This is none of my business I guess, but that does bring me to why I came over here to begin with. What are your intentions where Bianca's concerned?"  
  
Lena's eye's looked away at the mention of Bianca's name and she got up and walked over to the window and looked out at the hustle and bustle of the people below. She smiled as she looked at the birds in the tree across the street just a chirping up a storm and as she cleared her head, she turned to face Erica, "I like Bianca. She's a great girl and I enjoy spending time with her. I do have an interest in her and that's when things get complicated again." "Oh dear god, now what?" Erica asked with a sigh as she waited for the next explanation from Lena. "I've told you too much already. I promise that I will not hurt Bianca in any way and that's all I can say right now." Lena said, almost pleading with Erica to let this god, "Please, I do have to get ready for a date with her so I must get ready."  
  
"I believe you won't hurt Bianca, but whatever else is going on here I will find out. If I were you I'd be coming to work tomorrow and letting me know every last detail or you could be looking for a new job." Erica emphasized the last part so Lena wouldn't miss it then grabbed her purse and walked out the door. Lena picked up her cell phone and made a call, "Hey, there is a very big problem and I don't think I can handle it anymore." "Enough with the dramatics; just tell me what's going on." Michael said as he searched the internet for some information he was looking for. Lena shook her head at how cold Michael could be, "Fine, here's the short quick version. Erica Kane was here. She knows about Joe. She knows something else is going on between me and Bianca and she's not happy about it."  
  
"Here's what you do. First, deal with Joe. There's no need for this to get in the way of anything. Second, you will stop seeing Bianca; no need for that to become a complication. Third, set your sights on Erica Kane. Go right to the top and do what you need to do to win her trust. Is that clear?" "Are you crazy? She doesn't trust me one bit. I think it's best if I just leave Pine Valley and go back to Paris, Russia or back home, anywhere but here." "You listen to me and you listen up good." Michael said as he calmly, yet forcefully continued. "You will do what I say or you know what happens. I will not have this conversation again. When you get Erica on your side we'll call it even and you can go jump a bridge for all I care, but until then your mine. Now get to work." Michael hung up and Lena threw her cell across the room where it smashed to pieces, which is what she did as she crumpled to the ground at the horrible mess she'd made of her life, all because of one chance meeting with a very evil man.  
  
Maggie and Bianca were talking in the waiting are when Bianca's cell phone went off. "Hello?" "Bianca. It's me Lena. I'm sorry but I'm going to have to cancel our date for tonight. Something has come up and I feel horrible for doing this at the last minute." "Well okay. I'm sorry you can't make it, maybe another time. Thanks for calling." Bianca felt bad for a moment and then looked over at Maggie and the bad seemed to disappear in a hurry.  
  
"Okay then. Please forgive me. I must go now. Bye." Lena hung up before Bianca could reply. Maggie felt these conflicting emotions flying through her mind all at once. She felt really bad for Bianca because she knew she was looking forward to it. Yet on the other hand, she felt this sense of relief that Bianca was still available. She just didn't know why she cared so much. The two girls sat there and with neither knowing what to say they eventually drifted off to sleep.  
  
Next day in Pine Valley.  
  
Laurie was working at BJ's when Joni walked in and as their eyes met there smiles grew wide and Joni walked up to Laurie and was a bit unsure what to say, "Hi. I was going to grab some coffee and sit down and go over my paper before school, but I don't want to seem like I'm making you wait on me." "Don't be silly, sit down and I'll get you a coffee. Please, I'm glad you came by I wanted to talk to you about something. I'll be right back." Laurie touched Joni's hand softly and smiled before walking back to get her coffee. Jamie walked in and quickly sat down beside Joni, "I have to talk to you. Katie called me last night and wants to go to the party with me. What should I do?"  
  
Joni held in her smile and tried her best to act surprised, "Do you want to go with her or Laurie?"  
Jamie threw his arms up in the air, "I don't know. Laurie is great, but I think she's still hung up JR for some reason and I'm not sure I really have a chance with her. Now Katie is very cute and I know she likes me but I'm just not sure she's the one for me." "That's really making a choice isn't it?" Joni asked, as she sipped her coffee. "I don't want to get in the middle of your busy love life or anything, but two things you said just now kind of stand out. One, Laurie may not be ready to commit if her heart belongs to someone else. Two, Katie called you and does want to go out with you. I know it's not always that simple, but maybe you should think about what's best for you?"  
  
"I know Katie looks like the obvious choice, but I can't seem to shake Laurie. I know it may be hopeless but I just have to try. If Katie moves on then I guess I will lose both ways. For now I'm gonna go ask Laurie if she still wants to go to the party with me." Jamie got up and then stopped and turned to Joni, "Thanks for your help." "Sure" was all Joni could muster as she watched Jamie run towards Laurie. Laurie turned to see him hovering over the counter and smiled as best she could, "Hi there. Can I get you a table or something?"  
  
"No, I'm here to see you. I know your working so I'll keep this short. I'd really like you to go this party with me tonight. Are you still interested?" "Actually I don't think I'll be going to the party after all. I'm sorry." Laurie then took the coffee over to Joni and sat in front of her. Joni looked over at Jamie and then back up at Laurie, "How did it go? He looks kind of sad. I feel bad. He's such a good guy." "I know he is." Laurie agreed as she looked over at Jamie again, "But, leading him on is not going to help him out. I just hope he takes Katie and has a great time. If that happens I think he'll move on pretty fast."  
  
"Here he comes." Joni whispered. "Laurie, could we talk about this? Just tell me why you don't want to go. JR isn't around and if I'm so bad you don't want to go out with just say so." Jamie asked, not realize he was putting her on the spot. "I just need some time. You're a great guy. Sometimes two people just aren't right for each other. I'm sorry. I think it's best if we just stayed friends." Laurie tried to console him by putting her arm on his, but he pulled away. "I don't need any pity thanks. Katie awaits, so thanks for setting things straight." Jamie looked down at Joni, "Bye Joni. See ya at school."  
  
"Jamie wait." Laurie said as she followed him to the door, "Please don't be mad. I'm just trying be honest." "I'm fine. Really, we're good okay. I've gotta go. See ya." Jamie walked out the door and never looked back. Laurie walked back to Joni's table and sat down beside her, "This feels so bad. I hate to see him so unhappy." "I know. He will be back to himself in time." Joni put her hand on Laurie's thigh and looked into her eyes, "I'd love to give you a big hug and kiss here but maybe that's not a good idea considering you work here. I hope we can meet somewhere later and I can give you that kiss for real."  
  
"I'd love that so much right now." Laurie smiled, then remembering her dad's grounding began to frown again, "I don't think I'll be doing anything tonight or for another week. My dad grounded me because you there yesterday." "I thought my parent's were strict. When do you get off work?" Joni asked, her head filling with hundreds of ways to see Laurie without breaking the rules. "In about 45 minutes. I came in early today because I had no classes in the morning. I do have classes after lunch and then I'm supposed to be home right after school." "Well, that doesn't leave us much time." Joni said as she looked at her watch, "I'm going to wait for you so we can walk to school and spend some time together. Maybe we could try to talk online tonight. I know it's not the same as being together, but until that grounding is over it could work."  
  
"That's a good idea. That might be fun. I'll be back when my shift is over, I see some people coming in so I have to get going. Thanks for being here today." Laurie said her face glowing as she looked back at Joni, "You better stop smiling at me or I'm gonna forget where I am and kiss those sexy lips right here." Joni was so tempted to do just that, but she held back, "Go get your work done or were gonna get you in a whole lot of trouble if we keep talking like this. I'll be here when your shift's over." Laurie smiled at Joni and quickly walked away before she got carried away.  
  
Bianca was sitting with Maggie in the waiting room and they both looked at the clock and realized they'd fallen asleep and spent the night there.  
  
As Bianca was clearing the cobwebs out of her head she began thinking about Kendall and her mom and how things are always so complicated between them and wondered if this tragic accident could possibly bring them closer together. Maggie was watching Bianca and could tell she was lost in her thoughts and was almost afraid to say anything, but she had no choice as Bianca looked over and saw her staring at her, "I didn't mean to stare. I wanted to give you some time to think." "Thanks. I don't know if it helped or not but we'll see how things turn out here. Anyway, since Kendall is doing better I think I'm going to get back home and get ready for... Oh right, Lena called last night. There is no date."  
  
Maggie saw Bianca pause and then realized why, "Oh right, your date. I'm sorry about that. I'm sure she will make it up to you." Maggie then took a chance on what she was about to say, "Listen, since you were all set for a big night out why don't we make it tonight and you can try out one of those sexy dresses and I'll let you pick one out for me and we'll have a night on the town." "Well I do have two more dresses to try on and you're the only one I trust to tell me how I look." Bianca touched Maggie's arm then pulled it back. "Okay then, let's go. We do have all day so we can take our time looking for the perfect outfit." Maggie helped Bianca to her feet and the two girls were about to head out for a night on the town that they'd never forget.  
  
Kendall was awake and feeling modestly better than last night and she was even ready to try some hospital food. Her little wonder meal consisted of a pair of warm eggs, two small pieces of extra dry bread, some milk and a little scoop of something she couldn't make out. She wasn't thrilled with the taste but was happy to have something inside her and as she was finishing up her milk Erica walked into her room and promptly sat down in the chair beside her. "Hello Kendall. You look well." "Erica, I didn't expect to see you. Is something wrong?"  
  
There was a look of confusion on Erica's face at why Kendall would be asking her what's wrong, "Well, I would say something is wrong. You were stabbed last night weren't you?" "Oh that. I didn't think you cared if I lived or died." "Now that's just unfair and a mean thing to say." Erica said with her usual sense of drama, "Your my daughter and despite our differences I do not wish you any harm. If you'd ever stop this vendetta you have against me we might even be able to move forward."  
  
Kendall was noticeably annoyed at Erica's last comment, "I'm in no condition to argue with you right now. So if your here to tell me how bad I am then you can leave." "I am not arguing Kendall. Look, I didn't come here to upset you. I'm going to go now. I am glad your okay and I do hope you get to go home soon. Good bye." Erica got up and made her way towards the door. "Wait." Kendall shouted about as loud as she could, "I'm glad you came. It means so much to me. Thanks."  
  
"I do care about you Kendall and I wish you would learn to believe that one day. Get well soon." Erica then left the hospital room in her usual speedy fashion, leaving Kendall to sit and think some more. All's she could think about was where was Michael. Why hadn't he come to visit her. Why. Why. Why. That's all she thought all morning long.  
  
Michael Cambias was lounging in his bed when a beautiful blonde woman walked out of the bathroom wearing little more than a smile. She walked over to the nightstand, began putting her clothes back on and Michael lie back and enjoyed the view. Once she was dressed, she walked over to Michael and grabbed the money he had left her and put it in her purse. She smiled down at him as she put on her leather jacket, "Call me anytime." "Get out." he said sharply.  
  
"But I was just..." "Look, do I have to draw you a picture? You've served your purpose now beat it. You were well paid and actually, I'd say you overcharge if anything. Now, be gone. I have to go visit my girlfriend." The blonde was pissed off by his crass words but knew better than to say anything, so she grabbed her coat and took off out the door. Michael then grabbed his cell phone and placed a call, "Lena I know your there so pick up."  
  
Lena was pacing back and forth in her room afraid to pick up the phone, but she was even more afraid not to and finally just picked it up, "What do you want?" "I'd drop the attitude if I were you. I want to know what your plan is to gain Erica's confidence and become a valued member of her inner circle." "It was only last night when you told me this. Give me some time to think this through and come up with something." Lena replied, knowing full well Michael did not like to be disappointed.  
  
"I think it's a bit late in the game for you to be pulling this crap on me. We both know what you can do when you put your mind to it. I've seen you get classified documents from head's of state. I've watched you charm a woman who hated your guts only a day earlier. I've seen you lie through your teeth to get what you want and you are going to get your ass over to Enchantment on charm your way into Erica Kane's life. I don't care if you have to sleep with her to get what I need, but whatever way you choose I need some inside information before June 1st or this whole takeover is going to blow up in my face. If it does I'll be very unhappy. And you my pretty little flower will have all your dirty little secrets exposed." "Shut up. Do not threaten me." Lena shot back with a vengeance, "I've always done what you asked so just give me time to work."  
  
"Now that's the spark I like to see. Now that you're back on track I think I will go take care of some other business. Keep me informed on your progress with Erica." Michael turned off his cell and tossed it on the bed beside him. Lena smashed yet another cell phone and then reached into a bag and pulled out another one from a whole case of cell phones. She took a deep breath and then called Erica Kane. "Hello Lena, my secretary put you through. What can I do for you?" "I need to speak to you. It's urgent. I have some information for you about a possible takeover attempt on Enchantment."  
  
Erica was intrigued but still wanted to know more, "Where did you get this information?" "That's not important. I just want to give it to you in person, somewhere safe." "Fine, meet me in the underground parkade at Enchantment and I'll drive you to a very secure location. How soon can you make it here?" Erica asked as she looked through her daily planner to see how much time she had. "I can be there in an hour." Lena said as she flipped through a little black book. "This better be good Lena." Erica hung up and looked at her watch to see how much time she had before she had to leave.  
  
Mia and Simone were already at work and were sitting together looking over some proposals from companies wanting to be the contractor for a new factory they were planning on opening. Each one had it's own good points, but the girls narrows the choices down to two companies, both long time Pine Valley companies as they wanted to keep the jobs in town whenever possible. After they picked the two companies, they sat the folders on Greenlee's desk and decided to take a break.  
  
"Glad that's finished." Mia said as she watched Simone pour herself a cup of coffee, her eyes focusing on that smile she had grown to love. Simone nodded agreement, "I know. That is hard work. I had no idea an office job could be so hard." Mia noticed someone lurking near the elevator and nudged Simone's hand and nodded for her to have a look. There was a man standing there who matched the police's description of Kendall's attacker to a tee. It was as if he hadn't even changed clothes and was back at the scene of the crime with not concern that the police were swarming this building less than 12 hours ago.  
  
They backed away and grabbed Mia's cell and called detective Stapleton. "Detective Stapleton here." Mia then moved back behind a wall with Simone so they could still see the suspect as she talked, "Hi it's Mia, one of the girls from Fusion. I think the man who stabbed Kendall is here right now." "Are you positive?" "Yes, he's wearing the exact same clothes and baseball cap. It's him." Mia said just a little bit louder as they kept an eye on the man in a lobby. "You need to get over here or send someone to get this guy before he leaves."  
  
"I want you and your friend to find somewhere safe and stay there until we get there. I'm only a couple blocks away so we'll be there very soon." he said then flipped his siren onto the roof of his car and off he went. Mia and Simone took a look to see if the guy was still there and this time they didn't see him. Simone looked again and still nothing so they both walked slowly back into the room and as they moved towards the lobby the man came walking into the room and pulled out a knife and started towards them. Simone pulled Mia backwards and ran towards the back room. They got to the door just before the attacker, and softly closed and quickly locked the door before he got there.  
  
The man was acting very erratically and started pounding on the door with his hands and then looked around and grabbed a computer printer and ripped it from the table it was on and started smashing the door with it and slowly but surely was making a small hole in the door. Mia and Simone were at the back of the supply room looking for something to use and still the man was smashing away at the door. As they were searching around, they heard a loud crash then saw the printer smash through the door, just missing Mia's arm as it landed on the floor behind them. The man then reached in, unlocked the door, kicked it open and took a step inside.  
  
As soon as he did Mia started squirting him repeatedly with a large bottle of Windex which caused him to slow down and keep one hand up to protect his face as he moved towards her. When he did, Simone snuck up beside him, took a wild swing with a wooden broom handle and smacked him on the side of the head, breaking the broom at the same time. Mia and Simone ran out the door, into the office and out to the lobby as fast as they could. They went into the stairwell where Mia grabbed the axe beside the fire alarm. She pulled the lever that started the fire alarm, broke the glass with the axe and Simone grabbed the fire extinguisher then stood at the side of the door and waited.  
  
There was nothing happening but the deafening sound of the alarm but they stood ready just in case. It was about five minutes since they pulled the alarm and Mia grabbed the axe and looked outside the door. First glance showed nothing, but since they didn't know if the attacker was still inside they decided to wait for a few minutes longer. As Simone relaxed for a moment and set the extinguisher down the attacker came up from the stairs below and both Mia and Simone were caught off guard but Mia managed to turn around and wave the axe in front of the rather skinny man who backed off at the sight of the rather sharp axe waving in his direction.  
  
Simone grabbed the extinguisher and pointed it at the man and he again backed away. He then put his knife down by his side, turned and slowly walked back down the stairs. With the man backing away Mia pushed open the main door. Simone went inside. Mia followed, slowly backing away from man as they stepped back into the main lobby. The two women walked back to the office keeping an eye on the door as they did. Just then, the elevator door opened and Detective Stapleton walked out with two other uniformed officers behind him. The two girls frantically pointed to the stairs and it didn't take more than that for the two uniformed cops to kick open the door.  
  
They grabbed the man, removed the knife from his hands, handcuffed him and took him away. Detective Stapleton put the knife in a plastic evidence bag and stared at the bruises on the man's face and the hardware in the girl's hands and walked up to them, "I see you had things under control here. Nice job. I will need to come down to the station and give your statements at some point, but it looks like you helped nab your friends attacker and hopefully this will give you all some closure on this terrible incident." Simone put the rather heavy extinguisher down and stepped forward, "Thank you. I think it will be a big relief for everyone to have this all behind us."  
  
"If you two ever want a career in law enforcement we'd be happy to have you." he thanked the girls again for their help, took the elevator and was gone.  
The two girls walked back into the office and sat down on the small couch and before they could catch their breath, Mia's cell phone started ringing, "Hello?" "Hi Mia, it's Greenlee. The doctor's are pleased with Kendall's progress and are sending her home and I'm going to go with her and help her get settled in and maybe stay with her until she's able to get around better on her own." Mia's face lit up at the good news, "That's great news. I have some news you can pass along to Kendall. We caught the bastard who did this to her and he's going to jail for a very long time." "That is good news. At least we don't have to worry about that loser anymore. Did they find our money?"  
  
"I don't know." Mia said, a bit embarrassed she didn't ask about that earlier, "I'm pretty sure he didn't have it when he came here tonight, but I'm sure the police will be looking into that. We have to go down and fill out some statements and I'll ask the detective about it then."  
"That's okay. I have to go they are just bringing Kendall out. You two will have to hold down the fort for a few days. I'm counting on you. Bye." Greenlee put her cell in her purse and ran to greet Kendall. Kendall was still in some pain but was feeling much better and was more than happy to see Greenlee's happy face, "Hi. You didn't have to wait for me. Where's Michael? Is he in the lobby?"  
  
"I'm not sure. I called him over an hour ago so maybe he is on his way." Greenlee said, trying to be as convincing as possible. "I guess so. Let's go downstairs and I'm sure he's be there. I haven't seen him since this happened." Kendall's face had turned from a smile to a very sad frown in a matter of seconds. Greenlee tried to get things back on track, "I just want to get you home okay. Before I forget, Mia and Simone helped catch the jerk who did this so he won't ever bother you or us again." "That's good. I hadn't thought about him since this happened and I'm glad he's off the streets now." Kendall said rather calmly, "Could you just take me home. I'm feeling tired and weak right now." "Of course, let's go." Greenlee took Kendall downstairs and carefully drove her home.  
  
Maggie was sitting on Bianca's bed nibbling on some crackers and staring into the large closet wondering where Bianca had gone to, "Hey, are you still in there? You didn't go sleep on me did you? I'm waiting for the next outfit." There was no reply but Maggie did see Bianca step forward wearing a full- length coat and a very sheepish look on her face, "I can't wear this outside. I don't even know why it's in my closet." "Oh stop it. Come on. I bet you look great in it. Let me have a look." Maggie said with a big smile. "Okay, but don't say I didn't warn ya." Bianca turned away from Maggie and dropped the coat revealing a very short silver skirt and matching silver top.  
  
Maggie sat up in the bed, her eyes glued to Bianca's sexy body as she spun around in her new outfit.  
  
Bianca was wearing a low cut in a very wide V showing off her very ample breasts and the skirt was so short Bianca could barely walk without showing some of her cute round ass cheeks in the process. "That looks so hot on you. It does." Maggie climbed down off the bed so she could have a closer look, "It's definitely a new look for you but trust me when I say you do pull if off with ease. Yep, it's you Bianca. You add a little grace and style to everything you wear." "Sometimes you say the sweetest things." Bianca smiled then turned to face the mirror, "I think I must have bought this in my rebellious phase."  
  
"I say keep it for a special occasion. If you want to turn your partner on this will do the trick in a hurry." Maggie said, finding it hard not to stare; and had to shake herself into turning her head away from Bianca's breasts. Bianca was more than a little aware of Maggie's wandering eye but refused to read anything into it and instead decided to move in the opposite direction from where her heart wanted her to go, "I'm going to change. I will find something a little more appropriate for a nice dinner. I'll be right back." Maggie watched Bianca walk away and her head was just spinning with all kinds of conflicting thoughts and emotions. Why was she looking at Bianca this way she wondered. She tried to convince herself it was simply that the dress was so revealing she couldn't help but stare.  
  
That might explain what her eyes were doing, but she still couldn't explain why here heart skipped a beat every time Bianca smiled at her. She thought about Henry and wondered why she hadn't thought about him all night. She so wanted that to work out so all her questions could be put to rest, or at the very least buried for another couple years. Bianca's return in a beautiful red dress caught Maggie's attention and she stood up in the bed and mouthed, "OMG", then hopped down and stood right in front of her, "This is so beautiful. Please wear this to dinner tonight. I'm begging you. I just love it."  
  
"Really?" Bianca asked as she looked at herself in the mirror once more, "Well I do like it. It feels right. Your sure this is the one?" "Yes. Yes. For sure. I just hope I have something that comes close to that. I do want to look good for you to." Maggie added, once again wondering why she just said that. "You can't help but look good Maggie." Bianca smiled and touched Maggie's arm as she did, "I guess we go have a look at your closet and I get to watch you model some clothes this time. I think I'm gonna like that."  
  
Maggie was enjoying the fact that Bianca was smiling again, "I bet you are. Just remember I don't have as many outfits to pick from so it might be a very quick fashion show at my place." "That's okay. We might as well get going then. Let me just grab the dress and my purse and we can head out." Bianca turned the lights out in her closet and grabbed her purse from beside Maggie and the two girls headed downstairs to Bianca's car and were off to Maggie's house in a hurry.  
  
End of Part Three 


	4. Chapter Four

Part Four  
  
Laurie was standing outside the school pacing back and forth along the lawn and the sidewalk as she waited for Lori to meet her and as she turned to look back at the main doors for the 50th time, she saw Joni walking slowly towards here. Just the fact Laurie's smile was covering her face said a lot about how happy she was to finally see Joni after a very long and boring day of school, "Hi Joni. I'm so glad you're here." "Why is that?" Joni asked assuming something must be wrong from the urgency in Laurie's voice.  
  
Laurie was confused as to why Joni would need to ask that, "Why, because I missed you that's why." Laurie smiled and held back her desire to kiss her. "Oh, I missed you to. I don't think I heard a thing in English today because my mind was wandering. I kept picturing you and I at some secluded beach, lying in the sand, catching some rays and holding hands, " Joni reached down and let her hand touch Laurie's, "It didn't take long before we were doing way more than holding hands and each time we started we would get interrupted by Adam of all people." "Adam Chandler? Why on earth were you thinking of him?" Laurie asked as the two girls slowly made their way of the school grounds and walked towards the park.  
  
Lori couldn't answer that, "I don't know. I mean, I think it was because he's always been the voice of NO and I kept thinking how someone would always stop us when we wanted to be alone. That really ruined what might have been a very fun little dream." "We're alone now, sort of." Laurie said as two kids from school past them in the car and waved, "So tell me Joni, what was I wearing in this dream of yours?" Joni quickly closed her eyes, went back into the dream and remembered the details, "You were wearing a very sexy light blue bikini and a cute little sun hat and you looked gorgeous of course."  
  
"Thank you. Could you tell what you were wearing or is that possible in dreams?" Laurie asked, confused by her own question. "Good question. I think I saw myself in a mirror once and had on my favorite white bikini because I wanted to look my best for you." Joni said proudly. "I really can't wait to see you in that. I guess I never expected you to own a bikini." Laurie said as they made it to the park and sat down on the bench.  
  
Joni wasn't sure what to make of Laurie's comment, "You really think of me as quite a little prude don't ya?" "Don't be mad or anything, I just think you come across as a prude. I just wasn't sure your parent's would allow that." Laurie said trying to explain what she meant. "I know for a fact you'd look amazing in a white bikini and honestly can't wait until summer is really here and we can go down for a swim one day so you can show me for real." "I'd like that." Joni sat down on the bench and Laurie sat down beside her.  
  
They sat and talked for a good hour and were about to get up and head home when JR walked into the park and spotted them, "Hi there. Long time no see." Laurie was in shock and jumped off the bench. Moving away from Joni in a hurry as she searched for something to say, but none came. Joni, in spite of being a bit annoyed at how quickly Laurie rushed to get away from her stood up and broke the ice, "Hi JR. How was your trip?"  
  
"It was amazing. I saw a lot of new places and did way more work than I've ever done before and had a blast." he moved closer to Laurie and tried to give her a hug and she pulled away slightly. "Sorry, I'm just getting over a cold." Laurie said as she turned to Joni for some help. Joni covered for Laurie again, "Oh yes, she hasn't been feeling good for the last couple days. Anyway, are you here to stay or just passing through?" "I'm not sure. All depends on if I have something to stay for I guess." he said turning his attention directly at Laurie, "Are you seeing anyone?"  
  
Laurie looked at Joni again and then back at JR and then to the sky and then the ground before finding something to say, "What I do is none of your business anymore. You left me remember?" JR knew that was coming, "Well I guess your right, but as I recall you were the one kissing Jamie when you claimed to want to be with me?" "Oh that's nice. Well, I guess that explains why were not together doesn't it?" Laurie said defensively.  
  
"Maybe it explains why it didn't work out before, but that was then. I think we could start over if you want to." JR tried to get close to Laurie but again she pulled back and stood behind Joni. Joni could see this wasn't going to solve anything right now and she didn't want to get in the middle of it either, "Listen, it's your first day back JR and it's great to see you again, but maybe we should all take a break and we can talk later." "Okay, that's fine. I am back in Pine Valley for now so I hope we can work something out so were not always fighting. I did miss you Laurie. It's good to see you again to Joni. I'll leave you two alone." JR then turned around and left the park the same way he came in.  
  
Laurie was frantic and pacing back and forth and Joni was just sitting on the bench waiting for her to stop or say something. It took alot of pacing before Laurie finally looked back at Joni, who was now reading a book to keep her busy, "Oh that's great. You're reading at a time like this?" "A time like what?" Joni laughed. "It's not funny. I don't know what to do. What should I say to him?" Laurie asked as she finally sat down again.  
  
Joni looked back at Laurie, "I can't answer that. What do you feel right now?" "I feel guilty. Then I wonder why. I have no idea why, but I feel like I owe JR some explanation about how I feel about you, but I know don't owe him anything. Then I think I should give him another chance because that would be fair." Laurie did a good job explaining how confused she was. "What do you feel about me?" Joni asked, this time listened very closely for Laurie's answer. "Please don't ask me that now. I'm confused enough as it is." Laurie shook her head and then looked over at Joni and saw that she was trying to give a nice fake smile, but could tell she wanted a different answer.  
  
"I won't ask again." Joni said a bit harsher than she wanted. "Please don't be mad." Laurie felt like everyone was pressuring her at once and couldn't take that from Joni, "I like you, A lot. I do want to spend time with you and I can't stop thinking of how it feels to kiss you and I just want you to try and be patient with me while I deal with all this." Joni could see that Laurie was very emotional right now and she just pulled her close and Laurie rested her head on Joni's lap, both girls thinking about what would happen next.  
  
Lena was standing outside Erica's office trying to think of the best way to approach what she thought was an impossible task, seducing Erica Kane, the woman with countless husbands and who was only now beginning to accept Bianca for who she was. It was then that Erica walked in looking beautiful and elegant as always, "Hi Lena, were you waiting for me?" Lena opened the door for Erica, as she had her hands full with a large box, "Actually yes I was. I wanted to talk to you about a new idea I had for promoting Enchantment's new line of perfumes. I've been working on it for a long time and think your going to like it."  
  
"I'm always open to new ideas. Come on in. Let's here it. Maybe we should call Bianca and Boyd so we have some different opinions." Erica said as she sat down the box on her desk and sat down in her very comfortable chair. Lena moved forward and stood right in front of Erica's desk, "I was hoping to do this in private. If you like it, then perhaps we could bring the others in. If not, there's no sense wasting their time." "You have a point there. Alright, why don't you begin." Erica then placed a call to her secretary and had all her calls held for the next hour.  
  
With a deep breath and some fast-talking Lena was making her pitch. She kept her eyes on Erica to try to gauge her interest as she continued. Over the next 20 minutes, she was able to make a very strong case for herself and her idea. Erica was all smiled when Lena was finished her presentation, "Well I'm very impressed Lena. You have done a great deal of research and I think you have the exact demographic we had in mind when designing this new line. I don't need to check with anyone else on this. I'm going to have you go down to our marketing department right now and give them the same presentation you gave me."  
  
Lena was surprised at how excited Erica seemed to be and couldn't help but feed off her energy, "Thank you so much. I'll try not to let you down." Erica was not hearing any of that, "I wouldn't agree to this if I thought that was possible. Make this happen and when it does we can go out and celebrate." "Of course. I'd love that. I will get right on this." Lena gave Erica a very friendly smile, walked slowly out of Erica's office and closed the door behind her. It was a small step, but it was still something for Lena to build on so she was pretty happy with herself and it showed in her walk and in her smile as she sashayed on down to the marketing department.  
  
Greenlee was holding on to Kendall's waist as she helped her to the front door of her apartment. Kendall rested against the wall as Greenlee found her key and opened the door and the two girls walked inside. There were a number of take out pizza boxes on the coffee table in the living room and even more Chinese food containers on the kitchen counters and Greenlee watched as Kendall spotted each and every one of them with her eyes, "Sorry the place is a mess. I haven't been up to cooking for a long time."  
  
"That's okay. I was just seeing if you ordered from the same place as I do." Kendall picked up one of the menu's from the table and smiled, "Looks like we have the same taste in take out foods. Who knew?" "They always say brilliant minds think alike, so it makes perfect sense to me." Greenlee smiled, then helped Kendall get comfortable and then walked into the kitchen and took out her cell phone "Hello?"  
  
"Michael, where have you been? Kendall was released from the hospital today and you were nowhere to be found. What's the matter with you?" Greenlee fumed. "Calm down Greenlee. I was on my way over there and something came up. Where is Kendall now? Let me talk to her." Michael said as he was surfing the net looking for more information on Erica Kane. "No." Greenlee yelled then quickly lowered her voice, "You can come over to my place and see her in person. It's the least you can do."  
  
"Oh stop being so dramatic. Kendall understands I have a business to run. Listen, I have to go now but I'll try and stop by before the night is out. Bye now." Michael hung up, turned his cell phone off and sat it neatly beside his briefcase on the table. Greenlee was still furious and had to take her time before she walked back into the living room so she didn't show her anger to Kendall. Kendall was already asleep on the couch and Greenlee went and got a blanket from her closet and covered Kendall up and sat across from her in the love seat and just watched her sleep.  
  
Simone was closing up the Fusion office while Mia was downstairs assuring the other residents of the building that there wouldn't be any more false fire alarms and explaining about Kendall's attack and the tempers soon died down and within minutes the crowd had subsided, just as Simone joined Mia. "Well, I think the other tenants will allow us to stay here after all. So what do want to do now?" Mia asked as the two girls left the building. "I just want to go home and have a nice hot bath and relax with you in my arms." Simone took Mia's hand and they rushed to the car and were home in record time.  
  
Mia opened the door, walked slowly towards Simone, stepped out of her skirt and top and stood in front of her in her white lace bra and panties while Simone looked on with a sexy grin on her face. "Aren't you in a sexy mood? I do like though. Not sure we will make it to the tub if you keep making it so hard to concentrate." Simone walked up to Mia and put her hands behind her, grabbed her firm ass and pulled her in closer, "Now about that bath...." "I can't wait." Mia smiled and they rushed to the bathroom. Simone was having no trouble removing her clothes as Mia was right there helping her remove every last piece and soon they were both naked and ready for that very relaxing bath.  
  
There was something so perfect about feeling Mia's soft hands around her stomach as she lie back with her head on Mia's shoulder and her hands caressing her long legs. Mia was slowly washing Simone's arms moved even slower over Simone's small but oh so firm breasts, caressing each one as she rubbed her nipples between her fingers, causing the cutest little moan to escape Simone's mouth. Simone turned her head to the right and Mia leaned down and kissed Simone's soft lips. Slow and soft first, but soon the kiss increased in speed and passion. Simone let her hands move up to caress Mia's pretty face then moved down her soft neck to her shoulders before finding Mia's round breasts with her small hands.  
  
With her thumb rubbing Mia's hard nipples Simone slipped her other hand down Mia's stomach between her creamy thighs and as Mia's head tossed backwards and she let out a loud moan the doorbell rang and they both stopped and shook their heads at the awful timing. Mia got up, put on her robe, walked out of the bathroom and into the living room and answered the door. "Hi Mia. I'm sorry to bother you so late but I need to talk to you. Now." Adam didn't wait for an answer he just barged into her apartment and walked over to the couch and sat down.  
  
Mia closed the door and walked over towards Adam with a puzzled look on her face, "What is it Adam? Did something to Liza?" "No, nothing like that, she's fine." Adam reassured Mia then got to the point, "I just want to know if she's going back with Tad." Mia tried not to roll her eyes, but it's what she was thinking as she once again had to deal with Adam's jealousy and his need to know everything, "I really don't know Adam. I only see Liza at work every now and then or if I baby-sit for Colby."  
  
"If you're babysitting that means she's going out. So is it with that low life Tad?" Adam persisted. "Adam, if you need to know this so bad please ask Liza. She won't hide it if she is. I honestly don't know. Now I was in the middle of something so if that's all...." Mia walked towards the door and opened it wide as a very big hint for Adam. "I see. Well, I'm sure whatever it is you were doing can wait. This is important. Now please think. Have you ever seen Liza with Tad?" Adam said as he began to lose what little patience he had.  
  
Simone came walking out of the bedroom in her robe, saw Adam sitting on the couch and Mia standing looking very annoyed and could tell something wasn't going well, "Sorry to interrupt, but I thought I heard the door close again." "It's okay Simone, Adam was just leaving." Mia said with a fake smile as she again held the door open for him. "So I guess Simone is what you are in a hurry to get back to? Interesting, gotta love those Martin men. I don't think either of them has kept a woman for long. Obviously Jake wasn't satisfying you quite the way Simone can." Adam began walking past Simone and towards the door.  
  
"Good-bye Adam." Simone said with a smile. "Yes, nice seeing you again, next time use the phone." Mia added bluntly. "Why of course. Would hate to disturb your little love nest here. Have fun girls." Adam was barely out the door when Mia slammed in behind him. Simone walked up to Mia, put her arm around her waist and led her back to the bedroom, "Let's forget Adam for now. I think we need to get back to where we were before he showed up." Mia just nodded and smiled and they went back into the bedroom and closed the door.  
  
Maggie was now the one on display as she stepped out of the bathroom wearing a very conservative black dress and showed it off to Bianca who didn't seem to impressed by it so she turned around and found something else to wear. This time she came out in a much shorter red strapless dress that came up above her knees and was cut to show just enough cleavage. Bianca was definitely enjoying Maggie in this and it showed. "Yes, this I like. It's sexy and yet not slutty. I think you should wear this." Bianca said as she hopped off the bed and had a closer look.  
  
"Really?" Maggie questioned, not sure if she agreed with Bianca, "I don't know. Not sure it really works for me." "What? Are you kidding?" Bianca said in mock surprise, "It's gorgeous. You look beautiful. Just look in the mirror again and take a better look." Maggie stood in front of the mirror, turned sideways and then had her back facing the mirror and looked over her shoulder at the dress again and finally faced the mirror head on and still wasn't sure, "I guess it's not bad. You're wearing red though right? I don't think we both want to go somewhere in the same dress do we?"  
  
"Oh right. I forgot. Sorry." Bianca knew Maggie was right but was still in the mood to keep on trying, "Okay, let's see something else. How about that white dress you bought a couple months ago, I really liked it." "I can try that. Be right back." Maggie smiled then went into the bathroom and changed into the sexy white dress and minutes later, she popped out and spun around a couple times for Bianca's eyes. "Now that is very sexy, but elegant to. I think you look great in this to. You can't help but look good." Bianca was unable to contain her excitement.  
  
"Thanks. I kind of like this one to." Maggie then had one last look in the mirror and looked back at Bianca, "I guess I'm ready to go. So you need to get into your dress and we can finally start this night." "Great. I'll be right out." Bianca went into the bathroom, changed and returned, much to the delight of Maggie. "Wow, I forgot how sexy that dress was." Maggie was doing that staring thing again and had to stop and look away as soon as she felt Bianca's eye's on hers. "Well thanks. I feel sexy in this to." Bianca smiled, "I guess were ready. Onward." "Indeed." Maggie smiled back at Bianca and they grabbed their things and were off.  
  
Lena was waiting in Erica's office when she got back from her meeting, which was a surprise to Erica, "Lena? What are you doing here?" "I'm sorry, I just wanted to give you an update on my meeting with the marketing people. They were very cooperative and we worked out a concept for the commercials and they will begin shooting them on the weekend and have a number of different versions ready for you to see come Monday morning." "That's very good news. You do work fast Lena. I'm impressed." Erica took off her coat, hung it up and sat down at her desk.  
  
"Thank you." Lena said with a smile, "I really am enjoying working for you and this was such a great opportunity and I didn't want to let you down." "As long as you give me an honest day's work you will do fine." Erica then checked her messages and sat up with a gasp as she read one. "What is it?" Lena asked, not sure what Erica had just read. "I can't believe this." Erica said with her usual sense of drama, "It's that Michael Cambias again. I've just received a very reliable bit of information that he is going after both Enchantment and Fusion. He really is a greedy bastard."  
  
"That's terrible." Lena made her way around Erica's desk, trying to comfort her with a simple touch of her arm, "Is there anything I can do?" Erica paused as she felt Lena's hand on her arm, then stood up and walked out in front of her desk, "I'm not sure you can help. He's a very dangerous and powerful man and I think it's time he was stopped." Lena didn't let this opportunity go to waste so she walked over to Erica again, "Maybe there is something I can do. When I was in Europe, I worked for a man who had extensive dealings with Mr. Cambias and seemed to get the better of him on many of those occasions. I was his personal assistant and have met Mr. Cambias and do know a little about how he works."  
  
"I had no idea. I'm trying to recall your references but can't remember the name of the man you used to work for?" Lena was more than happy to refresh Erica's memory, "It was Sergei Volkov. He is the CEO of numerous worldwide businesses, but first made his mark in the computer industry, specifically the internet. His current project is designing software for some of the largest companies in the world." "Oh yes, I've heard of him." Erica said, recalling a business deal her company had with him about 5 years ago for some internet software to get Enchantment online, "If I remember correctly Cambias tried to takeover his company and failed?"  
  
"Yes, that's true." Lena said with an excited tone, "Sergei was aware of Michael's reputation and as soon as he found out he was sniffing around his company he began taking counter measures against Cambias Industries and with some shrewd business moves put some pressure on some of their major holdings and they ended up backing off." "Well then, perhaps you and I should get together and discuss this further." Erica went over to her desk and looked at hr appointment book then looked at her watch. "I have a short meeting right now but if it's okay with you we could talk over dinner tonight?" "That sounds perfect." Lena agreed instantly. "I'll call you later and set up the time and place." Erica then was out the door in a flash. Lena was smiling widely and then walked out of Erica's office with a jump in her step.  
  
Joni was walking Laurie to work and they hadn't said much to each other since they ran into JR, but Joni finally broke the ice, "It looks like you have quite a few options to consider. Two guys want you and I might add a pretty cute girl does to and you have to decide what you want to do next." "Oh Joni, stop teasing. I'm with you aren't I?" Laurie said as she opened the door to BJ's and walked behind the counter. Joni followed and sat on one of the stools out front, "I know you're with me, but I know this is tough for you since JR was your first boyfriend and I don't think you ever resolved things with him because he just took off."  
  
"I guess, but I'm not even mad at him anymore. I just feel guilty. I do hate that. I will have to talk to him and Jamie both. Or I should say we do." Laurie smiled at Joni then walked into the back room. Joni followed and pinned Laurie up against a wall, "Hey, what's this about me being with you when you do this?" Laurie easily lifted Joni's arm and quickly turned her against the wall, "Well, it's only fair I introduce them to my new girlfriend isn't it?"  
  
"Oh I know. I was hoping to get out of that part though." Joni smirked then looked around and leaned in and kissed Laurie's welcoming lips. "That was sure nice. But, you're not going to get out of this with a kiss you know." Laurie kissed her back then grabbed her apron, "I think we should talk to both of them tomorrow after school." Joni had a pretend frown on her face as she followed Laurie back out to the front counter, "Fine, tomorrow it is. This is going to be very interesting to say the least. Call me when you get home okay?" "I will. Bye Joni." Laurie said with a big smile.  
  
Kendall woke up and looked around the room and it took her awhile to realize where she was. After she tried to sit up she was also reminded of her very sore stomach. Greenlee walked out holding a plate full of something and sat it down in front of Kendall with a big smile on her face. It was some kind of food. Kendall just wasn't sure what it was supposed to be. "Um, it was really nice of you to cook this for me Greenlee and I really do appreciate the effort, but at the risk of sounding rude, what in the hell is it?"  
  
Greenlee didn't get upset, she just sat down beside Kendall and grabbed the fork from the plate and began pointing to the food, "This is a potato and this here is some chicken and this here is some fun little frozen vegetables." Kendall grabbed the fork from Greenlee and began poking cautiously at the food none of it seemed all that soft. She grabbed the knife, cut a piece of chicken, put it in her mouth and tried to bite it and spit it out in a hurry. "OMG. Are you trying to break my teeth? It's a rock." Kendall said as cracked the piece of chicken against the table, making a very loud noise as she did.  
  
Greenlee had a puzzled look on her face as she watched Kendall's reaction, "Really? I followed the directions on the package perfectly. I wonder what went wrong." "Something did. Now I hate to be a bad patient, but GET ME SOME REAL FOOD." Kendall made the last part very clear to Greenlee. "Okay, okay. No need to scream." Greenlee said then took the plate back into the kitchen and decided to try a bit of the chicken herself just to see. She put a piece in her mouth and spit it out just as fast as Kendall did.  
  
She couldn't help but laugh at the mess she made of the food and quickly called her next door neighbor who is a wonderful cook and told her about Kendall's situation and she agreed to help her out. Greenlee then walked back into the living room and sat down beside Kendall, "So the food wasn't perfect, I do get point for trying don't I?" "Yes, it was very sweet of you." Kendall grinned, "If I ever need to kill anyone I'll just have you cook for them."  
  
"Very funny." Greenlee replied and was about to tickle Kendall when she saw the bandages around her stomach and decided against it. "So, here we are. I gather Michael is a no show?" Kendall asked, knowing full well what the answer was, "I really don't get this at all. One minute he says I'm the only thing he thinks about and then when I need him the most he totally deserts me." Greenlee seethed every time she heard his name mentioned, "I know you care about him, but I think this has shown him for what he is. A selfish man who puts his own needs well ahead of anyone else's, even yours."  
  
"I guess so. Am I really that gullible? He manipulated me from the start. I fell for it, hook, line and sinker. I'm such an idiot." Kendall meant it and was almost in tears again thinking about Michael again. Greenlee brushed away a tear from Kendall's face, took her hand and looked her right in the eye, "Stop that. He's not worth it. There is nothing wrong with trusting someone. It's wrong what he did. I hate what he did to you." "I hate what I did to me. I fell for it. Everyone was warning me about him but I wouldn't listen. Nope, I knew better." Kendall looked over at Greenlee who was giving her the evil eye, "Okay, I'll stop feeling sorry for myself. I will learn from this and that's what counts, right?"  
  
"That's right. You really do deserve so much better than that creep." "I hope so. I sure haven't had much luck so far with my love life." Kendall said, this time stating only the facts. Greenlee wasn't sure what to say about that, "Well, the past is the past. Let's worry about the now." "Good idea. I'm all for that." Kendall finally had a smile on her face and that was a start.  
  
Michael Cambias walked up to Greenlee's apartment, grabbed his cell phone and placed a call, "It's time to set the next phase of the plan in motion. You know what to do. I expect to hear from you when you've initiated this phase." "I'll get right on that sir." was all the voice said in return before he hung up. Greenlee heard the noise from outside and opened the door to see Michael standing there, "Well, I didn't expect to see you here. I figured you had much more urgent business to take care of." "I'm not here to talk to you, so just show me where Kendall is." Michael ordered as he stepped in front of Greenlee and walked into the living room where he saw Kendall lying on the couch.  
  
Kendall didn't say a word just lie back and looked away from him. Greenlee left the door open and rushed in front of Michael again, "You're not wanted here. Kendall is still recovering from surgery. Something that didn't seem to concern you all that much when it happened. Now if she changes her mind I'll call you. Now get out." Michael was growing irritated by Greenlee's interference and this time just pushed past her and stood beside Kendall, knocking Greenlee off balance as he did, "Kendall, you have to listen to me. I wanted to be here so bad. I was just caught in the middle of an emergency and I couldn't get away. I told Greenlee to tell you all this and I hope she did, but I know it doesn't make up for the fact I wasn't here when you needed me the most."  
  
"No, it doesn't. Now, I'm tired and I need some rest. Please go." Kendall said then covered her head with a blanket. "Kendall, don't do this. I don't like to be brushed off like this. Don't throw away what we have over something so silly." Michael made one last plea, but could see Kendall wasn't buying any of his charm today. Greenlee watched, as Kendall didn't say a word, and then stepped in and began pulling Michael out by his arm, "You heard her. It's time to leave."  
  
"Fine, but don't think this is over." Michael then leaned down and whispered in Greenlee's ear, "If you interfere with my relationship with Kendall again you'll be sorry." "Very nice, if you think your threats scare me, you're wrong. Get out." Greenlee gave him a push and slammed the door on his face. Kendall pulled down the blanket, sat up and looked over at Greenlee with a worried look on her face, "What did he say to you?"  
  
Greenlee put a smile on her face, moved over and sat down beside Kendall then had her lie back down, "It's nothing. He was just telling me to stay out of his way where you're concerned." "I won't let him hurt you." Kendall said without thinking, then quickly added, "Or anyone I love and care about. I can't believe he thinks he can just come into my life when it's convenient for him but he's never around when I need him. Why do I still care about him? I hate this." "I think you need to relax for a bit. I don't want your stitches to come apart. Forget about him for now and try and get some rest and I'll go check on that food okay?" Greenlee asked and waited for Kendall to nod yes and then helped her lie back on the couch.  
  
Now, for anyone who is reading this I have a question for you. Would you like to see the story continue on from this point and take it's own unique path or fast forward to the present, which is October 2003, and continue from there, taking in all the events that have happened since April 2003. Either way works for me. Also, if I skip ahead, do you still want to read about Joni/Laurie since they are off the show now? Send any responses to buffyfaith19@yahoo.com Thanks for reading. 


	5. Chapter Five

Part Five.  
  
Bianca and Maggie arrived at Vincenci's just in time for their reservations. "Miss Montgomery, I'm so happy to see you again." Marcello the maitre de said as he led the two women to their table. Bianca was happy her table in the back of the crowded restaurant was still available.  
  
"Thank you Marcello. This is my friend Maggie." Bianca said as she proudly introduced her best friend.  
  
"Pleased to meet you Maggie, I hope you'll enjoy your stay." Marcello smiled politely as he showed them to their table, handed them the menus and quietly walked back to his post.  
  
"Wow, this place is amazing." Maggie said as she looked around the fancy yet cozy restaurant.  
  
"Yes, I love it here. The food is always delicious and the atmosphere is perfect." Bianca said and then focused back on Maggie. "Here we are."  
  
"Yep, here we are." Maggie smiled as she agreed, "I don't know why but I'm having the hardest time coming up with anything to say right now."  
  
"I know, I feel like it's a blind date and that's silly. Let's just forget where we are and talk like we always do." Bianca smiled hoping Maggie would get things started.  
  
With a deep breath Maggie took a sip of the water in front of her, let out the breath and began, "Okay, this is easy. Why don't you tell me about that new perfume you're working on? Who's it for and what do you envision for the smell?" Maggie paused for a second, "Geez, that sounds so dumb when I say it, but you know what I mean. You must have something in mind."  
  
"Actually I do." Bianca said, her eyes lighting up as soon as she began talking about her new project. "I was thinking about creating something specifically for when you're feeling down, depressed or just feeling lonely. I want something that will make you smile and feel good about yourself as soon as you put it on. I know I can do this and I know it would be perfect for every woman at some time or another."  
  
"I think it's a great idea." Maggie said, unable to contain her enthusiasm. "Everyone needs a little pick me up from time to time so I know this will be a hit when you get it ready for marketing."  
  
"That's a long ways away. It will take months and probably years to get this idea from the drawing room to the public." Bianca said, stating the obvious. "What I was hoping was that you might want to help me with this little project. Actually, it's a huge project, but I trust your instincts. I do know that you have studying to do and I understand if you." Bianca stopped talking, her eyes grew big and her mouth fell open as she looked over at the entrance to see her mom waiting to be seated with Lena by her side.  
  
Maggie spun around to see what Bianca was staring at and as soon as she saw Lena standing beside Erica, she knew, "Bianca, there could be a thousand explanations for this."  
  
"Sure there could, or there could be a very simple one, I was stood up for another woman. I mean, how could she do this to me and with my own mother?" Bianca asked yet not expecting an answer. "I'm going to go over there and find out what the hell is going on."  
  
Maggie grabbed Bianca's arm and stood up to get in front of the much taller brunette. "Wait a second. I'm not sure you want to do that, not here and not when you're so mad."  
  
"Oh but I do want to do this. I won't be able to if I calm down. I hate being calm, it's way overrated." Bianca tried to move forward but Maggie held her ground.  
  
"How about this, we have our meal and if you still feel the need to confront Lena then I won't stop you. Maybe just give it some time." Maggie said as she sat Bianca back down then looked back at Lena and Erica as they were seated at a table across the room. "Besides, I'm sure they are only here on business. I mean, your mom isn't exactly a fan of Lena's and I don't think it's a romantic dinner. Erica would never do that to you. Right?"  
  
Bianca let out a sigh as she took a drink of water, "Maybe you're right, but I'm still not happy that Lena stood me up. Why didn't she just tell me she had to work late with my mom?"  
  
"I can't answer that." Maggie said, feeling bad that she couldn't help more. "Listen, did you want to go?"  
  
"No, I'm not leaving. They should leave." Bianca shot back as she kept staring at Lena who was now laughing with Erica. "I'm sorry Maggie; I'm not being much fun here."  
  
"Don't worry about it, why don't we try and talk about something else for a while?"  
  
Bianca looked over at Maggie and then back at Lena, "Can we switch seats? I think I'll be okay if I don't have to keep watching them have such a good time."  
  
"Of course." Maggie said as they stood up and made the switch.  
  
"Thanks Maggie." Bianca said softly then smiled, as the only thing in front of her now was Maggie's pretty face. "I just can't believe my mom is laughing with Lena. Why? What do they have in common? She doesn't like her or so she said. It would be just like mom to steal her away from me to."  
  
"You don't mean that. You know it's not true. You're just lashing out." Maggie said as she put her hand over Bianca's to calm her down. "Anyway, I heard there was going to be a week long party at the dorm this week to celebrate final's week and I was wondering if you wanted to come with me. I won't be going until Friday because I have so much studying to do for my own final on Thursday, but it should be a fun weekend."  
  
"You know what, I'd love to go. I need to have some fun and this sounds perfect." Bianca took another drink of water, "Excuse me, I need to take a trip to the ladies room."  
  
Bianca got up and walked towards the restrooms, sped up as she walked past Lena and Erica and walked quickly to the ladies room.  
  
Once inside she moved over to a sink and splashed some water on her face, dried herself off and turned around to see Lena standing in front of her. She didn't say a thing, just walked past her and headed towards the door.  
  
"Wait." Lena said as she turned to face Bianca. "Please let me explain."  
  
"Oh what's to explain?" Bianca asked with an unhappy laugh. "It's pretty clear what's going on. You stood me up for a date with the CEO of Enchantment. Nice move Lena, you should be vice president in no time."  
  
"Don't say that. It's not true." Lena said loudly in her thick Polish accent. "I promise I am not interested in your mother like that. We've been working together, things were going well and she asked me to dinner to discuss work. I didn't think I should say no to her, she's been so nice to be since I started working for her."  
  
"I don't care. Whatever you do with my mom is your business. I'm glad things are working out for you and I hope you have a nice rise to top of the corporate ladder." Bianca said as politely as she could muster, "Now, if you'll excuse me I need to go."  
  
"I can't stand having you mad at me like this. It's not what you think. None of this is. I wish you could tell you why. But, I can't." Lena walked over to Bianca and lifted her head to face her. "I promise you that in time you will see what I'm doing is for a very good reason. In the end, this will all be worth it. I know you don't trust me, but I need for you to look me in the eyes when I tell you this."  
  
"Tell me what. More lies? No thanks." Bianca said as she took another step towards the door.  
  
Lena pushed it shut with her hand and stood between Bianca and the door. "Okay, I could lose my job for what I'm about to tell you, but you have to promise not to say a thing to anyone. That means Erica, Kendall and even Maggie. Nobody can know this."  
  
"Stop being so damn dramatic." Bianca said, her voice getting colder by the second. "If you have something to tell me then please just say it and leave me alone."  
  
"Just so you know, I'm only telling you this because I care about you and what you think of me." Lena then pulled Bianca back against the restroom wall, pulled out a metal gadget and began moving it up and down over the bathroom stalls, the walls and then the door before sliding it back into her purse. "We're clear here. I'll get right to it then. I am working for the CIA in an ongoing investigation into the illegal activities of Michael Cambias. I've been deep undercover for 18 months and have compiled enough data on him to put him away for a long time."  
  
Bianca was speechless. She stood there trying to process what she'd just heard but it was not easy.  
  
"Are you okay Bianca?" Lena asked as she helped steady her by grabbing her arm. "I don't know what to say. How do I even know this is true?" Bianca said, still uncertain if or what was true anymore."  
  
Lena slid open a secret compartment in her purse and pulled out a badge. It said her name was Lena Gregoriev and it looked very official with the CIA crest and serial number and the works.  
  
"I see your name is another lie." Bianca said, still focusing on the things that hurt the most.  
  
"Yes and I'm sorry for that, but there was no other way." Lena said, the regret her voice overpowering. "When this is all over I'll tell you anything you want to know. I promise, but right now, this investigation is too important to compromise any further. We have information that Michael has plans to kill some very important people connected to your mother, Kendall and other related interests. I can only say that we are working very hard to make sure nothing happens to anyone else."  
  
"This is all so much to digest. I don't know what end is up anymore. I hope this is true so much. I want to believe. I really do, but I need time to deal with all this." Bianca said as she walked back over to the door, but stopped and turned to Lena. "Thank you for telling me this. I know it couldn't have been easy and I hope you catch Michael and put him away forever."  
  
"We will Bianca, mark my words, Michael Cambias' reign of terror is about to come to end. You take care and I'll call you when this is all behind us." Lena said with supreme confidence. Bianca smiled back at Lena and walked back to her table.  
  
"Are you okay? I saw Lena follow you, did she explain things to you?" Maggie asked, sensing how shook up Bianca was.  
  
"Well, I did learn a lot about Lena that I didn't know and I understand why she did what she did, but it doesn't hurt any less. Anyway, let's eat and then I want to go home." Bianca said somberly.  
  
"Sure, whatever you want." Maggie said just as the food was put on their table.  
  
Joni was wandering back and forth in front of Laurie's locker, impatiently waiting for her to show up so they could confront JR and Jamie and try to move from the past.  
  
Eventually she got tired of pacing and stopped and leaned against Laurie's locker, but the person who walked up to it wasn't Laurie.  
  
"Hi Joni." JR said as he removed his jacket.  
  
"Oh, hi JR, why are you here?" Joni asked bluntly.  
  
JR was surprised by the question, "What do you mean? I'm here to see Laurie of course."  
  
"I guess I didn't expect to see you here." Joni said with a forced smile. "I thought you were done with school when you took off."  
  
"I am. I just need to talk to Laurie. I've decided to take another tour and want her to come with me."  
  
"What?" Joni asked loud enough for everyone in the hallway to hear. "You can't be serious. She's getting ready for college. There's no way she can leave now. Are you crazy?"  
  
"No, I'm not crazy. What's got into you Joni, I thought you were all for us getting together?" JR paused, studied Joni's face and saw something he didn't understand. "Why are you so concerned about Laurie all of a sudden? Last I remember you two weren't exactly getting along." Joni felt her face turn red then white as she searched for something to say. "Well JR, after you took off Laurie needed someone to talk to and we just connected again and she's just now getting over how hurt she was when you left."  
  
"I see. Well, that's what I want to talk to her about. I want to say sorry." JR said as he turned to see Laurie walking towards him.  
  
Laurie stopped as she saw Joni and JR looking at her and wanted to turn around and run away, but it was too late for that.  
  
"Hi you two." Laurie said, then proceeded to open her locker.  
  
"Laurie, I've been waiting for you. We need to talk." JR said as he moved closer.  
  
"About what?" Laurie asked, still facing her locker as she hung up her coat.  
  
"About us. Our future. I need to talk to you about some things and I don't have much time. I've decided to take another trip, but." he paused as he saw Joni looking on intently and another group of people walked up to a locker right beside them making a lot of noise. "Laurie, can we go outside and talk? We need some privacy."  
  
Laurie turned and looked right at Joni, "I have to talk to JR, I'll see you at lunch, okay?"  
  
"Sure, have a nice talk." Joni said then turned and walked away.  
  
"Great, let's go." JR said as he led Laurie out of the school until he found a quiet spot by the gym.  
  
"Okay, we're here so what did you want to say." Laurie said showing very little emotion.  
  
JR was watching Laurie as she constantly looked away and was fidgeting with her purse the whole time. "Is something wrong? You don't seem like yourself."  
  
"I'm fine." She said as she tried to look him in the eyes. "I wanted to talk to you today and I guess now is the time."  
  
"Wait, let me tell you what I have planned for us."  
  
Laurie interrupted JR in mid sentence. "No, I have to go first." She said as she summoned up the courage to continue. "This isn't easy for me. Joni was supposed to here and well, it's hard to do this without her."  
  
"What are you talking about? You need Joni to hold your hand to talk to me now? You're acting weird, so just tell me what this is all about." JR demanded, his enthusiasm changing to anger in a very short time. "You don't have to yell." Laurie said as she looked at JR's face and saw so much anger and confusion. "You're not going to like this and you might not even understand but, I've become very close with Joni since you left and well, we've become even better friends and things have changed in how we see each other."  
  
"Oh god, what the hell are you talking about? So you're friends again, big deal. How is this a problem?" JR asked, shaking his head at what he was hearing.  
  
"Just let me finish." Laurie said as she began pacing again, "Okay, since I can't seem to explain it being subtle, I'm going to have to come right out and say it. So here it is, Joni and I are together. She's my girlfriend and I don't mean 'girl' plus 'friend', I mean girlfriend as in boyfriend. As in kissing each other girlfriends. I didn't want this to come out quite this way, but I realize there is no easy way to say this."  
  
JR stood silent, mouth open and a blank look on his face.  
  
"Say something." Laurie said as she walked up to him and waved her hand in front of his face."  
  
"What? I'm fine. I just.this is all so confusing. I don't understand. I know we had problems but I didn't know it was because you wanted to be with Joni." JR said as he took a couple steps back. "How long have you been cheating on me with Joni?"  
  
Laurie's eyes popped out of her head at JR's question. "I have never cheated on you with anyone. Nothing happened between Joni and me, until after you left me. You left me. Let's not forget that very big detail. I know it sounds cliché but we didn't plan for this to happen. It just did."  
  
"Sure it did." JR said as he struggled to process this new information. "So tell me Laurie, why did you go out with me in the first place? I mean, if you like girls what are you doing dating me and flirting with Jamie?"  
  
"Stop it. It's not like that." Laurie said loudly, "I know you're upset, but being mad at me isn't going to change anything.  
  
"Maybe not for you, but it works me." JR said with an angry smile, "Now, you didn't answer my question, why did you go out with me if you want to be girls?"  
  
Laurie stood silent for the longest time, but as she saw JR get ready to say something, she decided to beat him to the bunch, "Wait, I'm trying to answer your question. It's not as easy as you seem to think. I didn't do anything to hurt you. I'm sorry if this upsets or confuses you. It's confusing for me to. Trust me. But, now you know and I hope in time we can be friends again."  
  
"I don't know if I can. It's too soon and well, I'm leaving in a couple days. That's why I wanted to talk to you. I'm so stupid." JR said and then started walking away.  
  
"No, you're not stupid." Laurie said as she grabbed his arm. "I loved the time we had together. I'll never forget it. Maybe this is how it was meant to be. Maybe you left for a reason and I know you're a different person now. I can see it in how you walk, talk and carry yourself. Our time was in the past. I know you will find the right girl for you."  
  
"Don't." JR said as he pulled away.  
  
"Don't what?" Laurie asked with a puzzled look on her face.  
  
"Don't pity me. I don't need it. I'm not going to fall apart over this." JR again started to walk away then turned to say one last thing. "But you can bet I'll move on and start a new life and yes I will find a woman who will love me and hopefully, if all goes well, she won't dump me for another girl and give me the 'I'm so sorry' speech."  
  
"Fine, I can see you need time to be angry. Look, I was honest with you. I tried to be nice and do this in a grown up way, but I know that can't happen until you find a way to deal with this." Laurie said and then turned and walked back into the school.  
  
Mia was up making breakfast when Simone came prancing into the kitchen and put her arms around Mia's waste, "Good morning beautiful. Is that for me?"  
  
"Well, us, but half of it's for you." Mia said as she flipped a couple pancakes over.  
  
Simone leaned over Mia's side and took a look at the pancakes cooking away in the large frying pan. "Umm, it looks as good as it smells."  
  
"Now, as much as I love having your arms around me, I need you to sit your cute little butt down so I can finish the rest of the meal." Mia said as she moved the bacon around in the other frying pan.  
  
"Okay, if I must." Simone walked out of the kitchen, opened the door, grabbed the paper and walked back to the kitchen.  
  
As she unfolded the paper, she saw a picture on the front page and she let out a scream.  
  
Mia turned and rushed over to Simone, who was pointing at the picture and Mia put her arms around her, "It's okay. We need to call Greenlee and then get down to the police station right now. Are you sure you're ready for this?"  
  
Simone stood up and looked up at Mia, "Yes, it's just such a shock. I can't believe this. He was so young. I just can't believe he's gone."  
  
Mia gave Simone a big hug and grabbed her cell phone from the table. "Hello"  
  
"Hi Greenlee, it's Mia. Um, have you see this morning's paper?" Mia asked as she held Simone close.  
  
"No, I just got up." Greenlee said as she buttered her toast. "Kendall had a rough night and neither of us got much sleep. What's going on?"  
  
"I hate to have to tell you this, but there was an accident last night. Carlos was killed." Mia said softly.  
  
"What? That can't be." Greenlee said as she sat down at the kitchen table. I just talked to him the other day. He was getting ready for a show. He was finally going to put his art on display. What kind of accident?"  
  
"It says he lost control of his car and went over a cliff on Drummond Road near the mountains. It says it was the third accident like this in the last three months. Simone and I are going down to the police station to find out more about this. We can meet you there."  
  
"I can't leave Kendall though. She's still in a lot of pain and I wouldn't feel right leaving her right now. I don't know what to do. I have to find out more about this accident though." Greenlee said just as Kendall was slowly walking into the kitchen.  
  
"What accident are you talking about?" Kendall asked as she made her way to the table and sat down with some help from Greenlee.  
  
"Listen Mia, I'll try and meet you there, but if not, could you stop by when you're done and let us know what you found out?" Greenlee asked as she helped Kendall get comfortable in the chair.  
  
"Of course I will. Give Kendall our love and I'll talk to you soon." Mia hung up and sat the phone down beside her.  
  
Simone picked up the phone right after and waited for a response.  
  
"Hello."  
  
"Tad, I need your help."  
  
"Simone? Is that you?" Tad asked as he looked at the clock beside his bed. "What's the emergency that you woke me up so early?"  
  
"I'm sorry, but I had to talk to you. There was an accident last night and Carlos was killed."  
  
Tad sat up in his bed and his smiled turned to concern, "What? I didn't know. I'm sorry Simone. I know he was a good friend to you and all the girls of Fusion."  
  
"Yes, he was a great guy." Simone said with a sad smile. "I can't explain why, but I have this feeling that this wasn't an accident. I want you to look into it for all of us."  
  
"I'd be happy to help. I will get dressed and head down to the station and talk to Jack and see what I can find out and go from there." Tad said as he was up looking through his closet for what to wear. "I'm really sorry Simone, but if something wasn't right about this accident I will find out."  
  
"Thank you Tad. Keep in touch." Simone said then put the cell phone down and put her arms around Mia, "I love you."  
  
"Well, I love you to." Mia said as she continued to hold Simone close.  
  
"It's just that.we never know when something like this might happen and I wanted you to know. In case."  
  
"Hey, nothing is going to happen to us." Mia said as she sat Simone down. "We are going to grow old together and when we're 65 we'll be dancing circle's around the other senior citizens. When it's time for us to go, we'll make sure we're ready and if we are, we'll let em take us, but not until then. Okay?"  
  
"I love your optimism." Simone said as she managed a half smile, "I still want to make sure you know how I feel. I know I'm not the best at this, so you better take advantage of it while you can because I'll probably be back to the same old Simone once I become myself again."  
  
"You're way too hard on yourself. I'm well aware of who you are and I don't want you to change for me. I love you just the way you are." Mia paused as soon as she said the words, "Isn't there a song with that title to?"  
  
"Yes, it's a Billy Joel song and I love it." Simone was trying so smile as she looked over at Mia, "Thanks for trying to cheer me up. I think it worked a bit." "I know this is going to be a tough time for all of us, but I do know you and Greenlee were close to Carlos so I just want to help get you through this any way I can. Now, we need to get dressed."  
  
Mia helped Simone to her feet, gave her a kiss and led her back to the bedroom so they could change and head down to the police station.  
  
"Who was on that on the phone? What accident?" Kendall asked as she held her stomach.  
  
"It was Simone." Greenlee said, her voice not the same strong powerful force it usually was. "Carlos was killed last night in a car accident. I don't know any of the details, but he's gone. I can't believe it. I just talked to him the other day."  
  
"I'm so sorry Greenlee. I know how much he meant to you." Kendall said as she got up slowly, walked over and put her arm around Greenlee. "If you want to go meet the girls I'll be fine. I'm not in any danger. I'll just rest."  
  
"I don't feel right about leaving you. I can talk to Mia and Simone later." Greenlee got up, walked over to the fridge, "What did you want for breakfast?"  
  
"Greenlee, stop it. You need to sit down and talk about it."  
  
"Talk about what?" Greenlee said as she looked through the fridge for something to eat. "You know we aren't into talking about things so just let it go." Greenlee took out some eggs and sat them on the counter.  
  
"I know we don't usually talk about things, but don't you think this is a bit different? I don't want to push, but I think we both know that holding things in doesn't work." Kendall made it to her feet, walked over and stood in front of Greenlee.  
  
"It doesn't do any good to talk. I've tried that in the past. I just deal better with things on my own. In my own way, I'm not shutting down though, okay? I just don't know what to say anymore." Greenlee said as she cracked one egg after another and put it in the frying pan.  
  
"I understand. I just want you to know that I'm here if you do want to talk." Kendall then stretched to open the cupboard and immediately grabbed her stomach in pain.  
  
Greenlee rushed to her, helped her back over to a chair and sat her down. "Are you okay? Did you break the stitches?"  
  
Kendall lifted up her shirt and they both looked and were relieved the stitches were still secure. "Don't scare me like that." Greenlee snapped.  
  
"I'm sorry, I keep forgetting I these stupid stitches."  
  
"No, don't be sorry. I didn't mean to yell." Greenlee said as she pulled down Kendall's top. "It's just that I can't handle losing someone else I care about. So, here's the deal, you will take care of yourself until you're fully healed. That's an order missy."  
  
"Yes ma'am." Kendall said with a smile, "Now, weren't you cooking eggs?" Kendall sniffed the air, "Oh oh, I smell burnt eggs."  
  
Greenlee rushed over to the oven and lifted the lid on the frying pan to find two highly crispy eggs. She calmly took the frying pan over towards Kendall, grabbed the egg flipper and tried to scoop them out of the pan, but she ended up making more of a mess as she spilled them over Kendall's plate.  
  
"There. Your meal is served." Greenlee said then turned and walked back to the oven.  
  
"Oh my, this is wonderful. I will eat it all up. Not!" Kendall laughed as she grabbed her plate full of goop and took back over to the sink and dumped it down the garbarator.  
  
Greenlee watched as Kendall rinsed off her plate, put it in the dishwasher and stared back at her. "Sigh, my hard work washed down the drain again. I wasn't cut out for this cooking thing."  
  
"It's okay, I wasn't that hungry anyway. Besides, you did try." Kendall was enjoying the brief moment of levity but knew it wasn't going to last. "Why don't you go meet the girls down at the police station and I'll be fine here."  
  
"Okay, maybe I do need to do this and get it out the way. I promise not to take too long." Greenlee said as she walked back into her bedroom, threw her nightgown on the bed, opened her large walk in closet and looked for something to wear.  
  
Kendall followed Greenlee and as she walked in and saw Greenlee standing naked and froze, her eyes unable to look away.  
  
Greenlee grabbed a short black dress and stepped back from her closet and when she did she saw Kendall standing there and jumped back, "Oh god, you startled me."  
  
"I didn't know you would be.anyway, I just wanted to.could you put some clothes on, it's very distracting." Kendall said and then turned away from Greenlee.  
  
"Oh come on Kendall, you don't have to turn away. I'm not that hideous am I?" Greenlee laughed. "Actually, that's not how I'd describe you at all."  
  
"Really and just how would you describe me?" Greenlee said rhetorically.  
  
"I don't think I want to do that right now." Kendall said, avoiding the question as best she could. "I just came in here to ask you a favor."  
  
"Sure anything you want." Kendall noticed Greenlee had finally put the dress on so she turned to face her, "I need to talk to Erica about something, but don't want to call her myself, could you somehow get her to come over here?"  
  
"That is a big favor." Greenlee said as she slipped off her dress and walked over to her dresser. "You will owe me big time if I do this. You know your mom isn't my favorite person and she feels the same about me, but, I'll do what I can for you. Do you like this dress on me? I'm not sure why I even bought it. I like the red one, but think I should wear the black one." she said as she put on her bra and panties.  
  
"Thanks, I'm not sure if it's a good idea for me to be in the same room with Erica, but I really need to talk to her about something Michael said to me a while back." Kendall tried not to stare at Greenlee, but found it impossible to do.  
  
Greenlee slipped her dress on again and checked her makeup, grabbed her purse and walked up to Kendall, "How do I look?" she spun around a couple times then waited for Kendall's appraisal.  
  
"You look beautiful as always."  
  
"Why thank you, I don't recall you ever saying I looked beautiful, but I do like it how it sounds." Greenlee smiled and walked towards the door to her apartment.  
  
"Say hi to Mia and Simone for me and I'll talk to you when get back." Kendall waved as Greenlee left the room then walked back into the living room and eased herself onto the soft couch, grabbed a magazine from the table and relaxed for the day.  
  
Michael Cambias was sitting in his car looking over some files when his cell phone rang.  
  
"Cambias here."  
  
"I've got what you are looking for. Meet me at the corner of Elm and 33rd Street, in the park across the street. I'll be wearing a red hat and will be sitting on the swings. Don't be late. This is one time offer." The man's voice said and then hung up.  
  
Michael smiled then closed the folders in front of him. One was Enchantment, one was Fusion, and the other had the pictures of five people in it. Chris Stamp, Aiden Devane, Boyd Larraby, Kendall Hart and Carlos Reyes.  
  
He had two red X's across the pictures of Chris Stamp and Carlos Reyes and bull's-eyes over the other three faces.  
  
With his usual smug look, he told his driver to head to the park.  
  
Jack Montgomery was standing in his office looking over the accident report when Simone and Mia stood at the entrance and waiting for Jack to acknowledge their presence.  
  
As he sat the report back on his desk, he looked up and waved the girls inside.  
  
"Hi Jack, thanks for seeing us." Mia said as her and Simone sat down in front of Jack's desk.  
  
"I'm really sorry about Carlos." Jack said graciously, then picked up the file. "I wish I had more information for you. Our preliminary findings suggest it was a tragic accident. At the moment, we don't believe foul play was involved. We are looking into this and have taken what's left of the car to forensics and when they finish analyzing it we should know more."  
  
"I don't believe it was an accident. I have no proof or anything, but I do have a feeling that something isn't right here." Simone said as she stood up and walked around the desk and tried to peak at the police report.  
  
"Simone, you know I can't let you see this. It's part of an ongoing investigation." Jack said as she closed the file.  
  
"Come on Jack, just let me have a quick look. I might see something that nobody else would even notice." Simone pleaded.  
  
"I know you're upset, but we haven't stopped investigating this accident yet. The car will tell us a lot, such as, if the breaks were tampered with or any other abnormality that might've caused the accident." Jack said as he tried to reassure Simone.  
  
"You have to promise to call me as soon as you get the results." Simone walked back around the desk, Mia stood up and they walked towards the door.  
  
"I'll let you know what we fine."  
  
"Thanks Jack." Simone said with a friendly smile then closed the door as they left his office.  
  
"Now it's time to get to work." Simone said to Mia as she walked over to a police office sitting at a desk.  
  
Mia rushed over and pulled Simone to the corner of the police station. "Okay, what are you up to?"  
  
"I'm up to finding out everything I can about this accident is what. I think I can find a way to get the information I need." Simone said with a sly smile.  
  
"Simone, you're going to end up in jail if you keep this up. Then how will you be able to help?" Mia said, trying to be the voice of reason.  
  
"Mia, this is not the time for that. Now, are you with me or not?" Simone said as she stared daggers back at Mia.  
  
With her head shaking no, Mia couldn't help but smile, "Yes, I'm with you. I'm always with you. You are impossible to resist and I think you know it." "I knew I could count on you. Thank you." Simone said as she gave me a quick kiss. "Let's try and find out who was first on the scene of the crash and see if we can learn anything from him." Simone surveyed the room, pointed to two officers at the water cooler, "Okay, I'll take the one on the left and you take the other one and let's get to work."  
  
Mia reluctantly agreed and they walked over to the men, separated them and began to question them.  
  
After some friendly conversation and some hair flips and warm smiles the two girls met back in the corner  
  
Simone leaned in close to Mia, "I didn't learn very much, but I did find out that a 911 call was how they found out about the crash. It was a man's voice who called it in, but he didn't stick around to be interviewed. If we can get our hands on the tape we can see if it's Michael's voice, but somehow I don't see him doing the dirty work."  
  
"That's something to work on at least." Mia said enthusiastically, "I found out that the officer on the scene suspected foul play right from the start of his investigation, but can't say anything until they get all the evidence gathered and processed. Anyway, he said there were no skid marks where the car went off the cliff, which means, the driver either fell asleep or was already dead when the car was pushed off the cliff manually. He also said there were footprints at the scene and that they were being CSI'd, as he called it, as we speak."  
  
"Great! This is enough to start with." Simone said, her face lighting up as they learned more about the accident. "The question is why anyone would want to kill Carlos. I don't think he had any enemies. We need to get a hold of Tad. He should be here by now. " "I think we should call Aiden to, he's good at this kind of thing and we could use all the help we can get." Mia added and then got out her cell phone.  
  
As Mia was calling Aiden, Tad walked into the police station.  
  
Simone rushed over to fill him in on what they'd already found out.  
  
Mia got a busy signal twice but on the third try she got through to Aiden. "Hello?"  
  
"Aiden, it's Mia. Are you busy right now?"  
  
"No, not really, why?"  
  
Mia walked back into the corner to get away from the increasing noise in the room. "I don't know if you've read the paper this morning, but there was an accident last night and a friend of ours was killed and we don't think it was an accident and we could use some help looking into this."  
  
"I'm sorry to hear that. What did you have in mind?" Aiden said as he picked up the paper and read about the accident.  
  
"Well, Simone and I have already gathered some information and we were hoping you could follow up on these leads." Mia paused for a second then looked over at Simone, then continued, "Tad Martin is also working with us so maybe you could meet us at Fusion after lunch perhaps, say around 2 and we can talk it over and go from there."  
  
"That's fine. I'll see you then." Aiden put down his cell and finished reading the article.  
  
Mia walked back over to Simone and Tad, "Aiden is going to help us out. I told him to meet us at Fusion at 2. Does that work for everyone?"  
  
"I have to talk with Jack and see if I can squeeze some information out of him, then I want to have a look at the car and I should be done in plenty of time to meet you guys." Tad said as he checked the time on his watch.  
  
"Good then, it's agreed." Simone said just as Greenlee walked into the station.  
  
Greenlee walked up and hugged both Simone and Mia, was quickly filled in on what they'd learned and was ready to get moving, "I want to search Carlos's house. If someone was out to kill him there might be a link somewhere."  
  
"Why don't you let me handle that or take Aiden with you." Tad said, trying to be helpful but not doing a very good job of it.  
  
"Oh Tad, we aren't helpless you know. I'm glad you're helping us and we do appreciate it, but there are some things we can do all on our own. We promise not to break a nail okay?" Greenlee said, her sarcasm clear as day.  
  
"Well, I'm less worried about your nails than I am about your pretty little necks." Tad added, "Whoever killed Carlos has nothing to lose and I don't want any of you getting killed when you don't have to."  
  
Simone walked up to Tad, "Thanks for your concern, but we need to help and we're going to help, so please just support us and we'll make sure you don't regret it."  
  
"I sure hope I don't regret this, because the price is pretty high if something goes wrong." Tad saw the girls giving him the evil eye again, "But, on the other hand I'm sure you three can take care yourselves. Just don't hesitate to ask for help if you need it. I'll be there in a flash."  
  
"Thanks, I hope you learn something more from Jack and we'll see you at Fusion around 2 then. Bye for now." Simone said as Mia and Greenlee waved to Tad and then the three of them walked out of the police station together.  
  
The long black limousine carrying Michael Cambias pulled up along side the park. His driver stepped out of the car, opened the back door and Michael slid out and took around the park.  
  
He spotted a man in a red hat swinging back and forth on the swing, so he began walking towards him.  
  
As he got right up close, the man stopped swinging, hopped down to the ground and turned to face Michael.  
  
"Long time, no see Michael." The man said as he pulled a gun out of his jacket and pointed it at Michael.  
  
"Who are you?" Michael asked as he became increasingly more nervous.  
  
"I am your worst nightmare." He said with a strong Spanish accent. The man turned Michael around and led him back to his car with a gun pointed in his back.  
  
"What are you doing? Where are you taking me?" Michael asked in one of those rare times when he was the one on the wrong side of the gun.  
  
"Oh, you'll see when we get there." The man said as he pushed Michael into the back seat of the limo and sat across from him. "Tell your driver to go to this address." He then handed Michael a piece of paper.  
  
Michael tapped on the glass and the driver rolled down the window. "Take me to this address." He then tapped the glass again, the window rolled back up and they were on their way.  
  
End of Part 5.  
  
Send any questions, comments or cookies to buffyfaith19@yahoo.com 


	6. Chapter Six

There was a knock at the door and Kendall slowly got to her feet and made her way to the door. As she opened it she was surprised to see Erica on the other side of it.  
  
"I didn't expect you to show up."  
  
"You were expecting me? Why is that?" Erica asked as she let herself into the apartment.  
  
Kendall closed the door and followed Erica into the apartment. "I wasn't sure you'd even listen to Greenlee." "Greenlee? What are you talking about?" Erica moved a magazine from the couch, sat down and put her purse on the coffee table. "I came here on my own. I haven't talked to Greenlee since I saw her at the hospital."  
  
"Oh, okay, well then, why are you here?" Kendall asked as she sat down across from Erica.  
  
"To see how you were doing of course." Erica said in matter of fact way as if Kendall should know why she does things. "You were stabbed and I'm your mother and I'm here to make sure you're okay and see if you need anything."  
  
"Come on Erica, let's not go overboard." Kendall laughed, but had to grab her stomach as soon as she did. "You're hardly little miss homemaker and you certainly aren't here just to me, so again I ask, why are you here?"  
  
"I see some things never change. You are always so suspicious and defensive and it's no wonder I can't get through to you. Fine, I see this was a bad idea so I'll just go." Erica got up in a huff and walked towards the door.  
  
"What, you expect me to get all weepy and beg you to stay? Is that it? Not gonna happen Erica." Kendall folded her arms and stared back at Erica. "Okay, let's try this again, I'm glad you came to check on me, but is there anything else you wanted?"  
  
Erica walked back to the couch, sat down and the slightest of smiles crossed her face, "Just because I was going to ask you something doesn't mean it's the only reason I came here. I could've just called about the business part, now would you stop being so argumentative and get me some coffee please."  
  
"Hello, I'm the injured one here, get your own coffee." Kendall said as she grabbed her stomach and winced as she looked over at Erica. "Oh and could ya get me a cup to, thanks so much."  
  
"You are a piece of work, I'll give you that." Erica stood up, walked into the kitchen, poured two cups of coffee, brought them back and sat them on the table. "There you go Kendall dear."  
  
"Thank you mommy." Kendall said as she grabbed her cup and took a sip. "Now that we have the childish stuff out of the way, I'd like to make you a proposal." Erica said and then took a folder out of her purse and sat in on the table and pushed it towards Kendall.  
  
"What's this?" Kendall asked as she picked up the folder and started looking through it.  
  
"Once you read it you'll see, but it's basically a proposed merger between Enchantment and Fusion."  
  
Kendall's eyes popped out of her head and not in a good way. "Are you insane? How many ways is this a bad idea?"  
  
"I figured that would be your initial reaction, but instead of trying to think of sarcastic retorts, why don't you actually read the proposition and think about this in an objective and rational manner." Erica stated as she calmly drank her coffee. "You can bet I'll read this from cover to cover and magnify all the small print to find what the catch is." Kendall sat back and began reading the proposition as thoroughly as she could.  
  
It was lunch hour and Joni was waiting for Laurie at their usual spot at the far end of the cafeteria. As Laurie walked into the room and saw Joni both girls faces lit up with big smiles as Laurie sat down across from Joni, sitting her books in the chair beside her to keep it from being used. "I've been going crazy all morning wondering how your talk with JR went." Joni asked as she opened up her lunch.  
  
"I guess it went pretty much like I thought it would. He was surprised, confused and upset." Laurie took a drink of her orange juice and sat it back down, "Listen, right now I want to talk about us okay? Have you got any of your college applications back yet?"  
  
"Actually I did, but I wasn't sure it was the right time to bring it up." Joni said as she reached into her backpack and pulled out a handful of papers. "I'm not sure where you applied, but I sure hope you got into one of the places I did."  
  
"Well, I wouldn't have got into any colleges if it hadn't been for Adam. As much as I hated accepting his generous offer, I knew I could always pay him pack once I got some great job later on." Laurie then pulled out her acceptance letters. "Okay, let's go one at a time here. I know we never really talked about this before, but I'm positive this will work out somehow. Anyway, my first one is Yale."  
  
"I have Princeton."  
  
"Okay, I have Cornell." Laurie said, still waiting for the elusive match. "I have University of Pennsylvania." Joni added, her eyes hopeful of a match each time she said a name.  
  
"This is getting tense here, okay, I have Columbia University." Laurie said and then watched as Joni jumped out of her chair and handed Laurie her Columbia acceptance letter and rushed over and gave her a big hug as the two enjoyed the elation of where they'd be going to university in the fall.  
  
"I can't believe it, we really will be going together. When are your final's" Joni asked as she pulled away and sat back down in her chair.  
  
Laurie sat down as well. "Next week and I'm done by Friday. I am so looking forward to summer vacation."  
  
"I was going to ask you about this, but wanted to wait until it was the right time, but my mom and dad have a little cottage up by Maine and well, they are going to Europe for the summer so we can have it all to ourselves if you want." Joni watched closely to see how Laurie would react.  
  
"I'd love to." Laurie said with a big smile, "I haven't been on a summer vacation in so long, I can't think of anything I'd like better."  
  
"I'm so happy you like the idea. You'll love this place." Joni said as her voice picked up as she began to describe the place to Laurie. "It's so beautiful in the summer. The tree's are all so green and the water by the lake is warm and perfect for swimming in and the best thing of all is that it's away from all the distractions of Pine Valley and we can just relax and enjoy being together for a change."  
  
"You make it sound amazing. This is going to help make all this studying worthwhile." Laurie laughed as she put her hand over Joni's and held it close.  
  
Mia, Simone and Greenlee were in front of Carlos's apartment where there was the traditional police tape all around it.  
  
"Okay, now what?" Simone asked, thinking their search had come to an end.  
  
"What do you mean?" Greenlee asked as she stepped over the yellow tape and put a glove on as she inserted a key into the door, twisted the knob and pushed it open. "I thought we'd just go in and have a look." Greenlee said with a proud smile.  
  
"You are something else Greenlee." Simone said as she stepped inside the apartment. "Oh well, I've been in jail so much what's another trip"  
  
"Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, isn't it illegal to do this?" Mia asked, while she nervously looked around.  
  
"Get in here Mia. This is an all for one situation and we aren't going to get caught." Greenlee said while motioning Mia forward.  
  
"Oh god, fine, but I don't like this." Mia added as she made her way inside the apartment.  
  
"Good, I feel better knowing you're here." Simone said and then gave Mia a quick kiss.  
  
"Cut it out you two, this isn't a make out party." Greenlee said rolling her eyes, "Now, since I knew neither of you would be prepared, I brought you each a pair of gloves to wear. That way you won't leave your fingerprints over everything." Greenlee said sharply, then handed them each a pair of surgical gloves.  
  
Simone nodded as she took the gloves from Greenlee. "Thank you little miss criminal mastermind."  
  
"Yes thanks, but you're a bit too calm for my liking." Mia added as she slipped on the tight gloves.  
  
"Well, I've learned to be calm from doing things like this so much." Greenlee said as she started walking through the apartment.  
  
"What are we looking for?" Simone asked as she flipped through some papers on a desk.  
  
"Look for anything that seems out of place, a name that doesn't belong or any financial records or business cards, just something that has a name attached. We need to find as many people as we can that Carlos had contact with since he's been here. More importantly will be anything we can find that is recent. I can't imagine Carlos having enemies, but someone wanted him dead and that's what we're here for."  
  
All three girls went off in different directions and began searching the place for anything they could find.  
  
Tad Martin walked out of his meeting with Jack with a frustrated look on his face, but he wasn't about to let that stop him find what he was looking for. He went outside, got in his car, grabbed his cell phone and placed a call.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"I need to talk to you now. Meet me at Drummond Road and bring your little medical bag of tricks to, I might need them." Tad said quickly then turned off his cell and drove off.  
  
"Hello? Tad are you there?" David said into the cell before realizing Tad had hung up on him. "What an ass you are Martin," David added to himself as he walked over to his desk, picked up his bag and coat and took off out the door.  
  
Maggie was happy to hear the bell ring to end the very long and boring class she was in and she happily picked up her stuff, walked back to the main lobby and had a seat.  
  
Bianca spotted Maggie and quickly made her way over towards her, "Hi, can we talk?"  
  
"Sure, let's go to my room." Maggie said as she led the way through the many hallways until they were at her room. She stopped, unlocked the door, ushered Bianca inside and then closed the door behind her.  
  
"Okay, now I feel dumb." Bianca said, then flopped down on Maggie's bed, "I can't talk abut what I want to talk about because it's a big secret. I hate secrets. Even if this did explain a whole lot about Lena's behavior lately, I can't even talk to anyone about what I know until this whole mess is over. God, I need a drink."  
  
Maggie smiled at Bianca's situation and walked over to her cooler. "You don't drink Bianca; but how about a sparkling fresh bottle of water? I have lots of that." "Yeah, I guess I'll have that for now." Bianca grabbed the bottle, spun the lid off and had a nice cool drink. "Ah, that is fresh." She said, twisting her head like one of those TV ads.  
  
"You bet it is." Maggie agreed with a big smile then sat down beside Bianca. "Now, I wish I could help with what you're going through, but I'm not sure I can. I gather she explained why she was with your mom though?"  
  
"Yes, but her explanation just created a whole new set of questions." Bianca said as she shook her head at the frustration of it all.  
  
"Well, I think what you need is something to take your mind off all this." Maggie got up off the bed, paced back and forth for a couple minutes then stopped and looked over at Bianca. "Hey, how about you and I catch that new Angelina Jolie movie tonight?"  
  
Bianca didn't need to be asked twice, "Oh that sounds like a great idea. I could use a good distraction. Thanks Maggie."  
  
"Don't mention it, that's what friends are for." Maggie said, just happy to see Bianca smiling again.  
  
"I have to talk to my mom later on but we could meet here around 6ish, grab something to eat and catch the late show." Bianca said as she stood up and handed Maggie her empty water bottle.  
  
Maggie reached out to grab it and put her hand over Bianca's as she did. She was about to pull it away, but Bianca squeezed her hand and smiled back at her.  
  
There was an awkward pause for way too long when Maggie finally broke the silence, "I wanted to tell you something. I've been doing a lot of thinking lately and I've come to the conclusion that..." just then there was a knock on the door.  
  
Maggie let out a loud, "Who is it?" without letting go of Bianca's hand.  
  
"It's Henry."  
  
Bianca pulled her hand away instantly and Maggie's face sunk just as fast.  
  
With a few short steps, Maggie walked over and opened the door, "Henry, I wasn't expecting you."  
  
"Oh, did I come at a bad time?" he asked as he waved to Bianca.  
  
"Well actually Bianca and I were in the middle of something." Maggie said delicately, trying not to sound dismissive.  
  
"No, it's okay Maggie, I have to go anyway. I'm supposed to meet mom back at her place so I'll see you tonight then." Bianca picked up her purse and walked past Maggie, "It's nice to see you again Henry."  
  
"Yes, nice seeing you to Bianca." Henry said as he let Bianca past and then let himself into Maggie's room.  
  
Maggie watched Bianca walk out of sight and then turned, closed the door and looked over at Henry, "What brings you by?"  
  
"I was hoping you could help me with this paper I'm supposed to do on the internal organs and their multiple functions. It shouldn't take long." He said as he put his books down on the desk.  
  
"I think we need to have a talk." Maggie said as she watched Henry make himself at home.  
  
Lena pulled her car up about a block away from where Carlos lived, got out of the car and started walking towards the apartment when she spotted two men walking into the house. Inside, Greenlee was searching through some files she found in the bedroom while Mia and Simone were going over his phone bills and other statements as they continued to look for anything that might help them.  
  
Mia stopped when she heard someone turning the lock on the door, grabbed Simone by the arm and led her back into the bedroom where the found Greenlee and all began searching for somewhere to hide.  
  
Greenlee slid under the bed and Mia and Simone squeezed into a small closet.  
  
The two men were now inside the apartment, with the man with the gun pushing Michael into the living room.  
  
"Do you know what this place is?" The man said as he glared at Michael.  
  
"It's someone's apartment. So, why did you bring me here? I've never seen this place before." Michael said as she looked around the room.  
  
"I don't suppose you have. I'm sure you don't bother yourself with little details like who it is you are having killed."  
  
"What are you talking about? Who are you?" Michael asked again, while staring back at the barrel of the gun.  
  
Lena quietly opened the front door and walked towards the two men, pulled out her gun and aimed it at the man holding the fun on Michael. "Put the gun down and turn around, slowly."  
  
The man lowered his gun and did as he was told and as he turned to face Lena she let out a relieved sigh, "It's you."  
  
"That's right, I told you I was on my way to Pine Valley." He said as he again lifted his gun and pointed it at Michael.  
  
"Yes you did, but I didn't know you would be here so soon." Lena said as she walked up beside the man. "It's good to see you again Juan Pablo. Is everything in place?"  
  
"It is now." Juan Pablo said as he looked over at Michael. "It's time for Michael Cambias to die."  
  
David Hayward was scouring the scene of the accident, constantly pushing Tad out of the way so he could do his job.  
  
Tad was off on his own for the moment, digging around at the top of the cliff. About 20 feet behind the original scene of the crime were more footprints along with an empty coffee cup and a small slip of paper.  
  
"Hayward, get up here." Tad yelled down towards David as she looked around for even more clues.  
  
"What do you want this time?"  
  
"Just get up here; I think I've found something." Tad said as he stood beside the possible evidence. "Okay, I'm here, so what's the big emergency? Did you forget where you were? Awe, poor Tad, getting senile already." David said as he walked up to Tad.  
  
"Keep your day job Hayward, your humor is third rate, then again so is your medical license. Who'd you bribe to get it back this time?" Tad said, as he pointed down to the ground. "You spilled your coffee and need help picking it up? Oh, let me help with that. First you..."  
  
"I don't know why I asked you to come here. You're completely incompetent." Tad said as he took out his cell and called Jack.  
  
"Montgomery speaking."  
  
"Hi Jack, it's Tad. I'm down at the accident scene and I think your detectives may have missed some evidence. Could you send a unit up here and gather a couple pieces?" Tad asked as he motioned for David not to touch the evidence.  
  
"Oh shut up Martin, I know enough not to mess up a crime scene, so just talk to Jack and don't talk to me anymore." David said with a snide little tone as he knelt down and looked at the piece of paper on the ground with a magnifying glass.  
  
"Tad? Who's there with you?" Jack asked, thinking for sure he hurt Hayward's voice.  
  
"It's the mad scientist." Tad said as gave David a wry smile, "Anyway, once Dr Jekyll does his thing we'll leave this to your people. I'll try and keep Hayward in line though." Tad added another jab at David as he shut his cell phone off.  
  
"Is he sending someone or not?" David asked with an irritated tone. "Did you even ask in the midst of your anti-David tirade?"  
  
"Yes, he is sending a unit and yes I will keep an eye on you so you don't mess up." Tad said as he stepped over David and took a look at what he was doing. "Now, what's that piece of paper say?"  
  
"Not that I should tell you a thing, but it's part of a diary log. There's also a portion of a bill under it, but I can't make it out without touching it, so we'll have to stay close to this so we can see what it says as they work on it." David walked around to the other side of the crime scene, pointing at the footprints on the ground. "They both appear to have been ripped out of a book and as I look around there may have been a struggle for this book. There is definitely more than one set of footprints here."  
  
"Well, let me take a picture of that piece of diary and I'll do my best to find out what else is on these items from Jack or well, whatever means is necessary." Tad said with his trademark smirk.  
  
Kendall finished reading Erica's proposal and began laughing hysterically, "Are you out of your mind?"  
  
"On the contrary Kendall, I've never been more serious." Erica said as she stood up, gathered her coat and purse. "This is one time offer Kendall, so please discuss this with Greenlee, Lila and those other two girls before you make some rash decision."  
  
"Rash decision? You're crazy. I don't have to discuss this pathetic offer with anyone. I reject it outright." Kendall said, her face turning red with anger. "Why might I ask are you acting so insulted? I offered you twice the going rate for Fusion. I also doubled all your salaries and kept the control of the company in your hands." Erica threw her hands in the air in disbelief.  
  
"Yes, that's all true, but what you didn't mention is that you want to buy Fusion and put it under the Enchantment name. You want to have 50% of Fusion all to yourself, giving you enough power to veto or stall any plan we put forward. I mean, if I had made this offer to you I guarantee you would have reacted the same exact way. To repeat, NO your proposition sucks." Kendall added emphatically as she ushered Erica towards the door. "Oh, but you can be sure I'll show this to everyone so they can laugh at it with me. Do not come to me with anymore offers unless it's to sell Enchantment to us and make me CEO."  
  
"Fine Kendall, play the spoiled brat, but this was a fair and generous offer and I'm disappointed you didn't accept it. That's your loss, but don't say I don't try and make things right between us." Erica walked out the door and was out of sight Kendall slammed the door and walked back to the couch.  
  
"It seemed like I interrupted something. Why did Bianca run out of here so fast?" Henry asked as he opened up his notes.  
  
"She had to meet her mother and well she hates being late." Maggie said, telling half the story, but still not lying.  
  
"Okay, did you want to get started then? I need this paper done by tomorrow morning." Henry said as he handed Maggie his assignment.  
  
Maggie looked it over and handed it back to Henry, "This is the same one you started last week. Why aren't you finished?"  
  
"I've been practicing with the band almost every night and just haven't had the time." Henry took out another piece of paper from his bag and handed it to Maggie. "This is the song we've been working on. What do you think?"  
  
"I'm sure it's great, but you must know that spending this much time on your music is going to make it impossible to get the grades you want in school." Maggie was still unable to sit down and continued pacing as she tried to talk with Henry.  
  
"I want to do both and you can help me." Henry said with a smile and then stood up and moved closer to Maggie, "Come on, it's only one paper. You don't want to see me fail do you?"  
  
"Only one paper, this is the 4th one in two weeks." Maggie said, reminding him of the other papers she'd all but written for him. "Look, I'm glad you are having fun with the music, but sooner or later you'll have to make a choice."  
  
Henry smiled through it all and tried to put his arms around Maggie, but she wasn't having any of that.  
  
"What's wrong? You used to want to help me out, now it's like some kind of chore. If you want out of this then just say so." Henry said as the smile left his face.  
  
"I don't know what I want, but I know I can't keep doing papers for you. That is not some bad thing. If you cared about me, you wouldn't put me in this position in the first place. I wish you could see that I'm not your enemy here." Maggie added softly hoping something she said might sink in.  
  
"Well, I see this was a bad idea. I won't bother you again. I'll find someone else to help with the papers, someone who might want me to have a music career and a medical career." Henry said as he began putting his stuff back into his backpack.  
  
"That's not fair and you know it." Maggie stated firmly, but quickly softened her tone. "I've tried hard to help you as much as I could, but I'm not sure I'm helping you by doing your work."  
  
"I don't know what you want but it's not me. I think I knew it from the start, but I tried to make it work and I can see it was doomed to fail. That's fine, I'll find someone else and I hope you do to. Well, I guess you got your wish. Bye Maggie." Henry said as he walked out the door.  
  
Mia, Simone and Greenlee had all gathered at the door and were listening intently to the conversation going on in the living room.  
  
"Wait Juan Pablo, you don't want to kill him. He's not worth it." Lena said as she moved closer to Michael, aiming her gun at him as well.  
  
"Oh but I do want to kill this sorry excuse for a human being." Juan Pablo said as he stared directly at Michael.  
  
"No, you can't do this. It won't bring Carlos back and you will be the one rotting away in prison instead of this creep. That's now how it should be." Lena said as she put herself in between Michael and Juan Pablo.  
  
"You should listen to her, she's telling the truth. I'm not worth it." Michael said calmly, "Besides, I have no idea why you want to kill me for anyway. Who's Carlos?"  
  
Juan Pablo took a few steps towards Michael and Lena again tried to get in his way. "Okay, I think we need to cool down here. You remember what happened in Monte Carlo in 2000, you don't want a repeat of that." Lena pushed the barrel of Juan Pablo's gun downward, and then turned to face Michael. "That was nicely done Lena, now give me his gun and let's get out of here." Michael said as he moved towards Lena.  
  
"Stop right there you pig." Lena snapped as she aimed the gun at Michael's head. "You really have no idea what's going on do you? You're so used to being in control you have no clue that the tables have been turned. Juan Pablo is with the CIA. You've just killed his brother and that and a long list of crimes that could fill this room."  
  
Simone, Mia and Greenlee all looked at each other and said "Brother?" at the same time, then as they realized how loud they'd said it they stumbled trying to get back to their hiding spots and ended up falling out into the living room.  
  
Greenlee smiled up at everyone, "Hi, we were just leaving."  
  
Lena walked over to the girls, "What are you three doing here? This is a crime scene.  
  
"Um, we were just in the neighborhood and thought we'd have one last look around. Carlos was a good friend to all of us and we just wanted to help out." Greenlee said as she tried to sneak past Lena and Juan Pablo.  
  
"Not so fast ladies." Juan Pablo said as he put his arm in front of the three women, "We're going to need to talk to all of you. If you have any information that can help us, we need to have it."  
  
"I don't know that we have much to tell." Simone said as she looked at her two friends, "Aside from the fact he was a jerk to Kendall and was trying to take over our company, I don't know what more we can add."  
  
Lena put the handcuffs on Michael just as Jack and Derrick walked into the crowded room, "Hi Jack, we're going to have to take Cambias back to headquarters and interrogate him. I know you want to talk to him, but we have jurisdiction. I'll let you in on all the details when we're through with him."  
  
"Fine, as long as we get to prosecute him for the two murder's he committed while in Pine Valley."  
  
"That's for the lawyers to work out." Lena said as she took Michael away. "Who are you?" Derrick asked as he walked up to Juan Pablo.  
  
"Hello, my name is Juan Pablo." He said as he shook Derrick's hand, "I work for Interpol and have been working on a joint investigation with the CIA, FBI and many other organizations, into the many crimes of Michael Cambias for the last 2 years. I have been working with Lena for the last year and only wish we could have stopped him before he killed by brother."  
  
"Your brother? Who is your brother?" Jack asked as he stepped in front of Juan Pablo.  
  
"Carlos Reyes was my brother." Juan Pablo said softly, "He's dead because I couldn't stop Cambias in time." Greenlee rushed forward, "You can't blame yourself for the actions of a sociopath."  
  
"I am to blame." He said loudly, "I wanted the case to be airtight. I kept putting off arresting him until we got that one piece of evidence that would nail him. Even though everyone felt we could convict him on some of the charges back in Europe, including the murder of Chris Stamp, I pushed to hold off because I felt we were getting close to breaking him for good."  
  
Everyone in the room stood in silence, feeling the pain of Juan Pablo as he mourned the death of his brother and had to deal with the overwhelming anxiety of blaming himself for it.  
  
Juan Pablo put his gun back in his holster and quietly left the room.  
  
"That's so sad." Mia said as she put her arms around Simone.  
  
"I know; it's terrible." Simone agreed, "I can't imagine what he must be going through."  
  
Greenlee put her arms around both women and led them out of the building, "I need a drink, do you guys want to come back to my place and say hi to Kendall? I know she'd be happy to see you."  
  
"Sure, but I have a meeting later on tonight, so I can't stay long." Simone said as she looked over at a surprised Mia.  
  
"You do? I didn't know you were going out tonight." Mia asked, trying to sound calm about it.  
  
"It's nothing major and I was going to tell you about it." Simone said with a guilty grin, "My dad wanted to see me and I wasn't even sure I was going to go."  
  
"Oh, I hope everything is okay." Mia asked, letting out a sigh of relief as she slid into the car. "Did you want me to come with you?"  
  
"I think I should do this alone. He said it was about my favorite uncle dying." Simone said, slipping into the back seat beside Mia and gave her a big kiss.  
  
Greenlee sat down in the drivers seat, looked back at the two girls kissing, "Okay, this isn't the sexmobile."  
  
"Sure, like you wouldn't be doing the same thing if you were back here with Kendall." Mia said as she continued kissing Simone with Greenlee looking on.  
  
"I would not." Greenlee denied the accusation immediately, "Well, if we were back there, we'd be much more discreet about it.  
  
Simone and Mia burst out into laughter at Greenlee's comments and Simone couldn't stay quiet any longer, "Oh right, you and Kendall don't know the meaning of discreet. You'd both be naked and doing it before the doors closed."  
  
"Very funny." Greenlee rolled her eyes, smiled and drove off as Simone and Mia continued to kiss in the back seat.  
  
End of Chapter 6.  
  
Any comments and feedback are always welcome at buffyfaith19@yahoo.com. 


	7. Chapter Seven

I'm going to fast forward the story 6 months so it will be June 2004 when Chapter Seven begins. Laurie and Joni are off the show living the good life at Columbia University and I will be using the current cast as story continues.  
  
Although I hate to see Amelia Heinle leave as Mia later this month, I have to believe there will be some good storyline options for Simone even when that happens.  
  
Only one character that's no longer on the show will continue on and that will become evident if you continue reading.  
  
One other aspect I should clear up in case it's not obvious. There is no baby for Bianca and there was no rape. Babe however did have her baby.  
  
I think that's all that needs to be cleared up for now. All disclaimers are in Chapter One.  
  
Chapter Seven.  
  
Greenlee rolled over in bed and smiled as she saw Kendall sleeping away so peacefully, but before she could enjoy the moment for long, the phone began ringing. Leaning over Kendall's still sleeping body, Greenlee grabbed the cell phone on the night table and got up and stepped outside the bedroom to answer it, "This better be good."  
  
"Oh it is, meet me at Fusion, I've got some great news for you."  
  
"I'm not going anywhere with you Ryan unless you tell me what this is about." Greenlee said with a loud whisper.  
  
"It's your call. Well, I'll talk to you later then." Ryan said with a smile as he waited for Greenlee to respond.  
  
"Fine, I'll meet you when I can. Is Kendall invited? Because the last thing we need is you coming between us again." Greenlee said, peaking into the bedroom to see if Kendall was awake.  
  
"You still want to blame me because you and Kendall can't resist my charm? I think that's just a wee bit unfair, don't you?" Ryan said as he sipped his morning coffee. "Why you arrogant son of a..."  
  
"I see the fire is still burning bright for me, that's good to see. It'll make our meeting that much more interesting. Don't ya think? I'll see you soon." Ryan hung up the phone before Greenlee could respond and leaned back in his chair with a proud smile on his face.  
  
Greenlee called out Ryan's name a couple times and then was about to toss the cell phone against the wall when Kendall walked into the hallway, "Woah, I hope you aren't mad at me."  
  
"Oh god I'm sorry, I just got a very annoying phone call and well, never mind...you look like you could use a little more sleep." Greenlee said as she moved up to Kendall and put her arms around her, "Are you still thinking about Erica?"  
  
Kendall sighed and then looked at Greenlee, "Well, I feel guilty about not telling you guys about her latest offer. I just can't think straight when it comes to dear old mom. Maybe you could be more objective about it. I have the proposal in my briefcase if you want to get Mia and Simone and have a look at it."  
  
"I know you don't want to be involved with Erica, but we are having some cash flow problems and even with Cambias awaiting trial, he's still been able to do a lot of damage to our company." Greenlee said as she led Kendall back into the bedroom and sat her on the bed, "I would never take money from Erica unless you were okay with it, but if we don't get some help soon, we won't have a company to worry about."  
  
"This is what makes me so mad." Kendall said as she got to her feet, "I know it would help us, but I can't see past the fact it's just another way for Erica to control one of her daughters. Even one she doesn't care about, she still wants to control me. It's who she is." Kendall took a moment to breathe and looked back at Greenlee, "Look, if Fusion needs Erica Kane's money to survive, I won't stand in the way. I want this to work and I will try to keep my pride of this."  
  
"It's okay, we'll keep searching for another way out of this mess." Greenlee reassured, "I have a meeting at Fusion I have to get to, are you still going shopping with Mia and Simone today?"  
  
Kendall's eyes lit up and the mention of shopping, "I'm glad you reminded me, I completely forgot." Kendall then turned away from Greenlee, immediately stepped out of her tiny nightgown and then turned over her shoulder as she walked slowly towards the bathroom, "I need a shower, care to join me?"  
  
Greenlee smiled, stripped out of her t-shirt and panties and took Kendall's hand. They hopped into the shower and for the next 45 minutes, they did everything but shower.  
  
Bianca arrived at Enchantment bright and early to find Erica talking to Anita Santos. Assuming the worst, Bianca rushed into Erica's office, "Is something wrong?" she said as she gave her mother a big hug.  
  
"No sweetheart, it's nothing medical, I was just talking to Anita about a possible job offer." Erica said calmly, stepping back from Bianca and looking back at Anita, "This is my beautiful daughter Bianca."  
  
"Hi Bianca, it's nice to meet you." Anita said, holding out her hand for Bianca to shake. "Hi Anita, I'm really sorry to barge in on you like this. I'm just going to leave and you can pretend I wasn't here. Bye." Bianca said quickly and then started to rush towards the door.  
  
"Wait." Erica shouted as she ran over and pulled Bianca back towards Anita, "Bianca, I asked Anita here so she could speak with you. I'm sorry I didn't talk to you about this first, but I just got caught up in work and forgot. Anyway, I think Anita would be perfect for your new perfume campaign. She's young, beautiful, successful and would be a great role model for all the women of Pine Valley and the rest of the world. What do you think?"  
  
Bianca didn't have a chance to think about her answer as Erica took Bianca's silence as agreement, "I knew you'd love it. Why don't you take Anita back to your office and you can work out the details. I have to go now. I have a meeting with Jack at the courthouse, more Cambias nonsense. I can't wait until that psycho is behind bars for good. Okay, bye for now."  
  
Anita was smiling as Erica sashayed out of the office as Bianca looked on in disbelief, "She really is something."  
  
Bianca turned to Anita and started laughing, "Oh she's something alright, I just don't know what this is most of time."  
  
"Listen, if you aren't comfortable with this idea that's fine. I completely understand." Anita picked up her purse and walked over to the door beside Bianca. "Can I ask if the idea for the ad campaign was yours or did Erica give me the details wrong?"  
  
"Oh the ad campaign is my idea, but I hadn't even put any thought into who would be our spokeswoman. I just told mom this yesterday. She's just trying to help, but she's pretty good when it comes to things like this." Bianca added as she walked with Anita into the reception area, "I would like to set up some test shots if we can work something out. She was right about one thing; you would be a great role model for this perfume."  
  
"Well thank you, I think it would be fun. I'm sure I'd be a horrible model, but I'd like it give it a shot. I love trying new things." Anita enthused, "Can I ask what you are calling your new perfume?"  
  
"I guess so, but I will have to ask you not to talk much about it until I make the official announcement tomorrow. It's called Unexpected." Bianca smiled, brushed gently past Anita, picked up a sample of the perfume from the counter and handed it to her. "Here, why don't you see what you think before sign on for the campaign."  
  
Anita took the sample and put a few drops on her wrist and a dash on her neck and then put her wrist up to her nose and took in the aroma. Seconds later a smile covered her pretty face, "This is amazing. It's so fresh and yet it makes me feel sexy at the same time. You might have a hit on your hands with this."  
  
"I hope people enjoy it. I had so much fun creating it." Bianca stated Well, maybe not all fun, since mostly it was hours of frustration trying to get it just right, but I'm happy with how it turned out."  
  
Anita looked down at her watch and her eyes lit up, "OMG, I have to go. I can't believe I talked to your mother for so long. I've got to get back to the hospital. Call me when you have more details about all this. Bye now."  
  
"I will. Bye." Bianca said as she watched Anita rush out of the room. Maggie stepped out of the way as Anita rushed passed her and then made her way towards Bianca, "Wow, she was sure in a hurry. Is there an emergency somewhere?"  
  
"Probably, but she's just running a bit late." Bianca took Maggie by the hand and led her down the hall to her office, closed the door, pushed Maggie up against it and kissed Maggie hard on the lips.  
  
"Umm, what was that for?" Maggie asked with a big smile.  
  
Bianca put her arm around Maggie's small waist, brushed a stray hair away from her pretty face and smiled, "I don't need reason to kiss you. Do I?"  
  
"No, of course, but that was kind of sexy." Maggie smiled as she looked into Bianca's beautiful brown eyes, "The way you brought me in here and were so aggressive. It's not like you, but I liked it."  
  
"I can be spontaneous, every now and then at least. Besides, I just love to kiss you." Bianca grinned as she kissed Maggie one more time before Lena stepped off the elevator and walked towards the two women.  
  
Lena took one look at how close they were, turned towards the elevator, mumbled, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt," and then stood and waited for the elevator. Bianca walked over to Lena and turned her around so she was facing her, "What's with the disappearing act? Is something wrong?"  
  
"No, not at all." Lena said firmly, "I just don't want to keep popping in on you and Maggie like this."  
  
"It's okay, I'm always happy to see you. I wanted to know how things were going in the Cambias trial overseas. If they can't convict him here, I sure hope they can for some of the things he's done over there."  
  
"Well that's why I'm here." Lena said somberly, "I know this is going to come as a shock to you and everyone else, but there was an explosion at one of the police stations in Paris. It happened to be the one holding all the evidence in the case against Cambias. When we weren't unable to come up with any other evidence or any new leads, the judge dismissed every single charge against him and set him free. Just like that."  
  
"No, that can't be. You and Juan Pablo were so sure about this. You said you had enough evidence to put him away for life. I can't believe this. My mother is going to be so upset. What about the murder's he committed here in Pine Valley? We all know he killed Carlos and Chris Stamp, so make him pay for it."  
  
"It's not that easy Bianca. I wish it were. I really do, but Michael is nothing if not resourceful. His crimes overseas were of the business variety and although he could have got a lengthy sentence, a good lawyer could've plea bargained it down to community service. It's not a fun system of justice we have, but we will keep working on his case and won't rest until he's behind bars where he belongs."  
  
"That's not going to help us now is it?" Bianca snapped back as she walked back over to Maggie.  
  
"I'm sorry to be the one to bring you such bad news, but I knew you'd want to know." Lena let out a disappointed sigh and looked at her watch, "I'm going back to the office now, if you need anything or have any questions about any of this or better yet, think of anything that might help us with our investigation, please don't hesitate to call. Goodbye Bianca. It was nice seeing you again Maggie."  
  
Both girls said goodbye and watched Lena get back on the elevator and then walked back into Bianca's office and closed the door.  
  
Maggie held Bianca close, "I'm sorry about all this. I know this is horrible news. He's a sick man and needs to be in jail."  
  
Bianca looked up at Maggie with such sad eyes, "I really thought it would be over. I should know better than to get my hopes up. It never works out the way I want. God, I can't believe he's free to harass my family again. He won't rest until he has destroyed Enchantment, Fusion and god knows who else might die if he's not stopped.  
  
"I won't let him hurt you. I promise." Maggie stated emphatically, "I might not be able to help your companies, but I sure as hell can keep you safe from that sicko."  
  
"Thank you. I know you will." Bianca said as she wiped the tears away from her face.  
  
Simone walked into Fusion, took a quick look around and then slowly made her way into the back room. Opening her purse, she pulled out her cell and placed a call.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"It's me. We need to go over the plans for tonight. Can we meet for lunch?" Simone asked as she constantly looked around to make sure she was alone.  
  
Tad Martin flipped through his empty day planner before answering, "I guess so, I can rearrange a couple meetings and we can talk at the park if that's okay. It's right across the street from my afternoon meeting."  
  
"Good. Do you have the information about Mia that I asked for?"  
  
"Of course I do. It's my job and I do it quite well thank you very much."  
  
"Excellent, this is going to be just what I needed. I'll see you in a couple hours. Thanks again Tad." Simone said with a big smile.  
  
Greenlee, Kendall and Mia walked into the room just as she was putting her cell phone away.  
  
Mia walked up and gave Simone a soft kiss, "Hi there, I missed you this morning. You must've been up really early. Who were you talking to?"  
  
Simone wasn't prepared to answer that question, "Um, it was nobody. Just a wrong number. Anyway, I'm sorry I missed you this morning, but I had a doctor's appointment and wanted to get it out of the way before I went to work."  
  
Mia's eyes lit up and her face turned white in a flash, "Is something wrong? Are you okay?"  
  
"Yes, yes, I'm fine." Simone said, taking Mia by the hand and reassuring her quickly, "It was just a yearly checkup and I got a clean bill of health, so now that we have that cleared that up, how was your morning?"  
  
"I'm glad to hear that." Mia sighed, "My morning was the same as always, except I missed seeing you and didn't know where you were, so I was a bit worried."  
  
"I am so sorry, I should have left a note, but I forgot all about it as I was in a hurry to get there. I won't do that again. I promise." Simone said, doing her best to talk her way out of the mess she'd created.  
  
Mia put her hands around Simone's neck and smiled at her, "Good then. I think waking up without you just showed me how much I miss you when you're not around." Mia then turned to Greenlee and Kendall. "Can we have a minute alone, please?"  
  
"Oh, are we in the way of your little lovefest?" Kendall asked with a big smile.  
  
"Now, now Kendall, let's not tease the lovebirds. We can listen by the door anyway." Greenlee said with a laugh as she took Kendall's hand and walked back into the main office.  
  
"I missed you to." Simone said as she kissed Mia softly on the lips. "I hope you know I would never do anything to intentionally cause you to worry."  
  
"I know that." Mia laughed, "I just think it's times like this that make me appreciate you even more. You make me smile in the morning when I don't feel like it. You help make getting up every day so worthwhile. I realize how much I take you for granted and just wanted to make sure you knew how much I love you."  
  
"Oh Simone, I love you to. More than words can say." Simone said as she gazed into Mia's pretty blue eyes.  
  
They kissed and held each other until Greenlee popped into the room, "Sorry to interrupt, but there's someone here to see Simone."  
  
"What? Who?" Simone asked curiously.  
  
"Why don't you come out and have a look." Greenlee said with slight smile.  
  
Mia was as curious as Simone was and the two women followed Greenlee back into the main room. As soon as Simone made eye contact with the man standing beside Kendall, she nearly fainted.  
  
Helping Simone regain her balance, Mia walked over to the man and introduced herself, "Hi, I'm Mia Saunders, pleased to meet you. How do you know Simone?"  
  
Looking more than a little nervous and confused, the tall dark haired man looked over at Simone and then back at Mia, Kendall and Greenlee before he spoke, "I'm Jacob Portal, I'm Simone's husband."  
  
Everyone in the room stood with their mouths open looking back at Jacob, including Simone, who rushed over and stood in front of him, "What did you say?"  
  
"Well technically we're still married Simone." Jacob said with a smile as he reached into his perfectly tailored suit and pulled out a document, "I got this in the mail a couple days ago and have been trying to have it verified since. It's official, our divorce did not go through the system and well, it looks like we're still hitched. How about that?" he said with a laugh.  
  
Mia was anything but amused by the announcement, although Kendall and Greenlee had a good snicker about it. Simone was speechless and had to take a seat as she tried to process this bombshell of an announcement.  
  
Jacob stopped smiling and sat down beside Simone, "I didn't think you'd react like this. You didn't get married did ya?"  
  
"No, but it doesn't mean this is any easier to take. I don't see how this could happen. I signed those papers 3 years ago. What went wrong?"  
  
"I don't have all the answers, but my lawyers informed me that it could be as simple a clerical error. The papers were never officially filed with the state of California, so in their eyes, we are still married." Jacob continued, unable to stop smiling at the bizarre situation, "Come on now, it's not that bad is it? Oh, are you seeing someone now, is that it?"  
  
"Yes, I'm with someone right now. What did you think, I'd become a nun after we got divorced?" Simone said sarcastically.  
  
"Oh I knew you would never be a nun." Jacob smirked, "So who's the lucky guy?"  
  
Mia looked over at Simone and waited patiently for her to respond.  
  
Simone fidgeted with her top and her coffee mug and looked over at Mia and then looked back at Jacob, "Things have changed a lot since we were together. I don't have to tell you who I'm seeing."  
  
Mia gave Simone a very nasty look and took off towards the elevator.  
  
Jacob sat back in his chair and tried to figure out what the big secret was about who Simone was with, "So, he's a mystery man is he? That's fine, I'm not here to interfere with your new life. I hope he's treating you well though."  
  
"Yes, I've never been happier." Simone shot back, "I think you should go now, I do have a job to do. Tell me what I have to do to get this divorce finalized."  
  
Jacob pulled out another set of documents and handed them to Simone, "It's very simple really, you just sign these papers again and I'll file them when I get back to LA."  
  
"Fine, I'll have our lawyers look at them and I'll send them to you when I've signed them." Simone said as she looked over the papers.  
  
"Good then. Well, it was nice seeing you again Simone. You look as beautiful as always." Jacob stood up and walked past Kendall and Greenlee, smiled and walked towards the elevator.  
  
After he got on, Simone got up and tossed the divorce papers across the room and let out a huge scream, kicked the garbage can and then sat back down, "This is just great. So how mad do you think Mia is?"  
  
"Oh on a scale of 1-10, I'd say 11." Greenlee answered as she sat down beside Simone, "Why didn't you just tell him you were with Mia now? I don't understand."  
  
Simone let out a moan and put her head in her hands and shook her head at the question, "I don't know why I didn't say anything. I guess I wanted him to think I was with some important man. Jacob was always so hung up on status and titles and I panicked. I feel horrible about it."  
  
"Well, you should feel horrible, because you hurt Mia bigtime." Kendall added bluntly as always, "You made it look like you were ashamed to be with her. You're gonna have to do some serious apologizing and even that might not be enough."  
  
"I know, I know, I know! I wish I could take it all back, but I can't." Simone screamed and tossed her head back, "We just had such a good little talk before this. I told her how much I loved her and then I do this and she probably doesn't know what to think. God, I can't blow it with her. I just can't. She's too important to me."  
  
"Then get off your ass and go after her. She's probably just down crying her eyes out over coffee." Kendall said as she pulled out Simone's chair and lifted her to her feet, "Now get going before she has too much time to think about all this."  
  
"I need to find her. I know I do. I just hope she doesn't hate me." Simone said as she ran towards the elevator.  
  
Kendall and Greenlee walked back over to the coffee machine, filled up and then Kendall looked over at Greenlee and smiled, "You don't have any husbands in your past do ya?"  
  
"Nope, you know about Leo and well, I'm single now and happy to be with you." Greenlee said as she leaned in a kissed Kendall softly on the lips, "Now, what about you? You don't have any husbands in your past do ya?"  
  
"No, I'm a free agent and well, that's not really true either, I'm with you so I consider myself off the market." Kendall added with another big smile, "Now that we have that out of the way, do you think Mia will get past this?"  
  
"I'm sure they'll get past this, I just don't know how long it will take. All depends on how well Simone explains her actions I guess. I think Mia will understand once Simone tells her why she didn't tell Jacob about them. I hope."  
  
Kendall sat back down at her desk, turned on her computer and shook her head, "I just hope they work it out. They really are good for each other."  
  
Erica Kane walked into the hospital to find Anita having a heated discussion with her to her sister Maria and without any thought at all, strolled up and stood right in front of the Santos sisters, "Hello ladies. I'm sorry if I'm intruding, but I just have to speak to Anita. Would you excuse us?" Erica said as she pulled Anita back into a more deserted corridor.  
  
"Erica, now is really not a good time." Anita said as politely as she could manage under the circumstances.  
  
"That's fine; it will only take a minute." Erica explained, "Listen, I just wanted to know how your meeting with Bianca went."  
  
"It was good." Anita said as she continued to stare at Maria across the room. Looking back at Erica, Anita let out a sigh and put on a smile, "She's very nice and sweet and I hope we can work together on this project, but it's really up to her."  
  
"I just knew you two would get along." Erica smiled, "So when are you seeing Bianca again?"  
  
"I don't know, Bianca has some work to do and she said she'd call me when she had some kind of schedule worked out for the photo shoots." Anita said, her eyes lighting up as Maria turned and walked away, "I have to go Erica; it was nice talking to you again."  
  
Erica was mildly offended as Anita took off in a flash, but quickly changed her frown to a smile as she spotted Krystal Carey step off the elevator. Adjusting her hair and checking her makeup, she confidently walked up to the new woman in town, "Hello, I'm not sure if we've met, I'm Erica Kane."  
  
Krystal took Erica's outstretched hand and pulled her into a big southern hug, "Well, how do you do Miss Kane. I've heard a lot about you since I moved to this old town of yours. So, what can I do for ya?"  
  
"Well you can start by letting go of me." Erica said as she pulled away from the attractive woman. After readjusting her hair and makeup yet again, Erica took a moment to study Krystal, still very uneasy around her for some reason, "I was going to ask you and your daughter to a dinner party at my house this weekend. I believe Bianca knows your daughter and I think it would be great for the two of them to get to see each other again."  
  
"Is that right?" Krystal said slowly, walking up to Erica and then circling around her as if she were a tiger stalking it's prey, "You wouldn't be trying to fix your daughter up with Babe now would ya? Cause you do realize Babe is happily married, right?"  
  
"Whatever made you think that? Of course that's not my intention and how dare you suggest such a thing." Erica fired back defensively, but quickly turned to hide her embarrassment at being so obvious.  
  
Smiling at the sight of Erica's reaction, Krystal moved up and leaned over Erica's shoulder, "Oh don't be sad, I have nothing against your daughter, and I think she's a wonderful girl, but I do have plans for Babe, and JR is part of that plan, so I think I'm going to have to decline your generous offer."  
  
Erica could feel Krystal's body pressing up against her back and as she started to become aroused, she pulled away and turned back to the Krystal, "I don't know what kind of game you think you're playing, but it's not going to work. If you don't want to be at this party that's fine by me, but that doesn't mean Babe won't come"  
  
Krystal smiled at Erica's tactics, "That's true, Babe can make her own decisions, but if I were you I wouldn't want to start messing with my daughter. I do realize Bianca is the heir to your fortune and while it's a rather tempting offer, Babe already has a child and needs to make her marriage work."  
  
With her eyebrow raised at the mention of the baby, Erica finally was able to go on the offensive, "Last I heard JR wasn't the father, so what do you think Jamie will think of this when he finds out the truth?"  
  
Unable to respond, Krystal put her hand up to her mouth in shock and ran out of the room.  
  
Erica on the other hand, smiled, reached into her purse, pulled out her cell and called Babe.  
  
Anita chased down Maria and finally cornered her in a linen closet, "Okay, no more running. You need to tell me what happened last night with you and Brooke."  
  
"Oh god Anita, I have no idea what's going on in my life anymore. I was just so hurt and sad I needed someone to talk to. That's all I wanted. I don't why things got out of hand."  
  
"You need to calm down and tell me exactly what happened." Anita said as she pushed Maria's long dark hair away from her face, "I was there when you and Edmund got into that huge fight, so I know how upset you were when he told you to leave. That's all I know, until you called this morning saying you needed to talk and I know I heard Brooke's voice in the background, but I just assumed you spent the night at her place. I'm thinking there's more to this than just sleeping."  
  
"I don't know if I can tell you. You'd never understand." Maria said as she looked for a place to run to.  
  
"No, you aren't leaving here until you get this off your chest."  
  
Maria knew she had to talk about it and finally took a couple deep breaths and began, "I left Wildwind and ended up running through the park and I almost knocked Brooke over as I wasn't watching where I was going. I helped her up and she could tell I was upset and well, she asked me if I wanted to talk about it so we went back to her place."  
  
"Okay, this all sounds pretty nice so far. I'm glad she was there for you." Anita said, still not able to put two and two together.  
  
"It was nice. That's the problem. She was so nice to me." Maria said defensively, making Anita even more confused. "I know we had our share of problems over the years, but she was just so sweet to me. She made me some coffee and then let me relax and then I finally told her about the fight I had with Edmund and after some time, we ended up talking about so many other things. After a couple hours, I was laughing and smiling again. I suddenly felt revitalized. I felt like the world was ending when I left and I soon began to realize that I wasn't such a failure after all. Maybe it wasn't me who needed to change."  
  
Anita was shaking her head as she tried to find the problem Maria was so upset about just 6 hours earlier, "You are making this sound like the perfect night. When you called, you were shaken, upset and positively sure that you'd ruined your marriage. What aren't you telling me?"  
  
"I'm getting to that. It's not like it's easy to talk about you know." Maria snapped, "Anyway, it was about midnight when we looked at the clock and well, Brooke got up to get the spare bedroom ready and I am not even sure what happened, but she tripped over the stool and literally fell into my arms. I caught her and our eyes met and we didn't say a word, just stared into each other's eyes for the longest time. Brooke put her hand up against my cheek and next thing I knew I was kissing her. I mean all out, full on, wild passionate kissing. And to make things worse, she is an amazing kisser. I couldn't get enough and I wasn't thinking of anything but enjoying the moment and I sure did."  
  
"OMG." Anita shouted spontaneously, "I don't know what to say. Um, okay, well, you kissed her. That's not a huge crime. It's not good, but I mean, it was a moment of weakness and vulnerability. It's not the end of world."  
  
"Maybe if we'd stopped at the kissing part." Maria mumbled softly as she turned away from her sister.  
  
"Oh Maria, you didn't? Did you?" Anita asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.  
  
"Yes, yes, we had sex. I spent the night making love to Brooke. Are ya happy now?" Maria screamed at her sister.  
  
Anita didn't answer, she just put her arms around Maria and hugged her close. "I'm here for you no matter what. Whatever is going on with you we'll get through it. Okay?"  
  
Maria nodded and then continued to cry on her sister's shoulder.  
  
End of Chapter 7.  
  
Any comments, questions or feedback can be sent to buffyfaith19yahoo.com 


	8. Chapter Eight

**Chapter 8**

**Fusion office.**

Greenlee sorted through the latest work orders for Fusion. Kendall looked through their expense reports. Both women looking for something that could help them out of the financial bind their company was in.

Even with Michael Cambias on another continent, he was still causing problems for all the major companies in Pine Valley. Erica Kane, Adam Chandler and Palmer Courtland all taking hits to their bottom line due to the shady tactics Cambias was using on them.

After taking a break to get some coffee, Greenlee noticed the time and remembered her meeting with Ryan, but with Kendall in the office she realized it was very unwise to have scheduled the meeting there in the first place.

Trying not to act nervous, Greenlee slipped into the back room and called Ryan on her cell phone.  
"Lavery here."

"Ryan, I need to reschedule the meeting somewhere else. Kendall is here and I don't want her to know we are talking."

"It's a little late for that. I'm on the elevator and I'm on my way up. You do what you have to do with Kendall, but I'm not going anywhere." Ryan said with a smirk, "Oh and one little bit of advice, secrets have a way of ruining relationships, so you might want to rethink keeping Kendall out of this, especially since what I have to say will affect her as well."

"Oh stop with the Dr. Phil routine. As I recall, you haven't been able to keep a woman in how long?" Greenlee snapped, "But you're right this time, I think it is best that Kendall be here when we talk. So come on up."

"Almost there. This is going to be fun." Ryan put his cell phone back into his jacket pocket, stepped off the elevator and walked into the main office just as Greenlee walked back in, "Hello there Greenlee. Kendall. You both look lovely as always."

"What are you doing here?" Kendall asked as she stood up, walked right over to Greenlee and put her arm around her waist.

"That's sweet." Ryan smiled, "It's nice to see how close you two have become. I'd love to sit and chat about your new found love life, but I'm here on business."

"Just tell us why you're here." Greenlee said as she clutched Kendall's hand tightly.  
  
Ryan sat down, put his feet up on one the desks and pulled out a large envelope, "Well okay then, let me put my cards on the table. Inside this envelope are four separate envelopes, with four separate proposals; individually created for each of the lovely women of Fusion. Oh and one other thing, you must be alone when you open your envelope. To ensure you don't peek at each other's proposal's, I have a bonded legal aid assigned to each of you. If one of you breaks this rule, all four proposals will become null & void. Okay, I guess that's it. You have 24 hours to contact me about your proposals, after that, they will be off the table forever. Have a nice day."

Greenlee and Kendall both grabbed their envelopes and were about to open them when they looked up at Ryan waving his finger at them, "No, no, no. You really need to learn patience ladies. I'll expect to hear from all of you in 24 hours."

Both women put their envelopes down just as two women in suits walked into the room.  
"Oh, let me guess, you are here to make sure we don't sneak a peek at the envelopes?"

"That's correct." the taller of two women said.

"Well, I guess we have to follow his stupid rules." Kendall sighed, her eyes boring a hole through the envelope in her hand.

"Why don't we just get this out of the way." Greenlee suggested with a grin, "Let's go into separate rooms and find out what's inside these things. At least we won't be distracted all day wondering about it."

Kendall took a couple steps towards the back and promptly turned around and yelled over at Greenlee, "What about Mia and Simone?"

With an angry foot stomp and then a disappointed sigh, Greenlee stopped and nodded back at Kendall, "Damn it, you're right, we should wait for them and do this together."  
  
"I have a feeling we might be waiting a while." Kendall said as she put her arm around Greenlee, "Simone is probably still trying to make up with Mia and I think that's going to take a very long time."

Greenlee leaned up against Kendall, "Oh right, the husband she forgot to mention. When will we learn that secrets always come back and bite ya in the ass. I just hope this doesn't ruin what those two have together."

"I told Simone she better do whatever it takes to make it up to Simone, I wonder how that's going." Kendall asked as she looked down at her envelope and began imagining what was inside.

**Mia & Simone's apartment.**

Simone crawled up from under the covers with a big smile on her face, kissed a very worn out, but happy Mia and snuggled up beside her, "Wow, that was amazing. Are you any closer to forgiving me?"  
  
"I'm still not happy you kept this from me, but I can't seem to stay mad at you." Mia said as she kissed Simone again, "You are just so irresistible."  
  
"I really am sorry though. I just...well, I never thought this would ever happen. You do understand that I was young and wild and I thought getting married would piss my dad off and oh boy did it, but I really did think we got it annulled."  
  
"Okay, I believe you." Mia said with a smile that soon turned to a frown, "Still, the way you refused to tell him you and I were together, that's what hurt the most. I just never expected that from you. I think you better tell me now, are you ashamed of me or us?"  
  
"Oh god no." Simone said as she got up and took Mia's hand, "What I did was horrible. I can't excuse it and I'm really so upset that I hurt you like that. I froze. I did. I wanted to tell him I was with some rich guy, just to piss him off, but I couldn't. I just feel so awful about this. You do know that I love you right? I will say it as much as I need to. I just don't want to lose you because of this."

"You're not going to lose me. I'm not going anywhere. I was hurt, but I do know you love me and I love you so that's what I am holding onto right now. But, I do need to know if there are any other secrets that you are keeping from me? Now's the time. I don't want to be blindsided again."  
  
Simone tried to smile, but couldn't help think back to what she asked Tad to do for her.

**Flashback begins.**  
  
Tad sat down at a park bench beside Simone, handed her an envelope and took one from her in return, "Tell me again why we had to meet here?"  
  
"I told you, this has to be discreet and Mia can't know. I want this to be a surprise and I knew you could get me the information I needed. Now, be quiet, I'm trying to read."  
  
"By all means Simone, I'll just sit here and twiddle my thumbs. Oh and did you forget how to say thank you? Cause it really does do wonders when someone spends a week on a case for you. Just a thought."  
  
Simone looked up at Tad with a look of annoyance, "What?"  
  
"Nothing, just enjoy your reading material. I'm going to feed the pigeons, they always liked me." Tad said and then got up and walked towards a group of pigeons in the corner of the park, but as soon as he took a couple steps, they flew off, "Just great. Go ahead, fly away, no food for you. Stupid birds."  
  
Continuing her reading, Simone's eyes lit up as she pulled out a picture from the envelope, "Tad, get over here now!"  
  
"Yes my queen." Tad said as he rolled his eyes and strolled back over to the park bench, "What can I do for you?"  
  
"Where did you find this picture? Is it real? It can't be. Can it?" Simone asked repeatedly.  
  
Tad took the picture from Simone and held it up in front of him, "I thought you'd be interested in that one. I believe it was taken in 1999. Obviously Mia had no idea that Maureen was Maria. I gather she hasn't mentioned this to you?"  
  
"No she hasn't and I want to know why." Simone said as got to her feet, "Could you save me some reading and tell me what else you think I need to know about this folder?"  
  
"Well, you asked to find out about her friends and family. You wanted to invite them to Pine Valley and help celebrate her birthday. Aside from Liza, she doesn't have a lot of family. I found a couple friends of hers from high school and college, but no immediate family. This picture of Mia with Maria or Maureen I should say, was given to me by a friend of Mia's. Apparently the two of them had a hot and heavy romance, but it ended badly and Maureen moved away. I'm sorry to be telling you all this, I can this is all a surprise to you."  
  
"I haven't had much contact with Maria, but Mia sure has. She spent a lot of time with Edmund just before Maria returned, but not once did she mention knowing her." Simone said, her voice a mixture of shock and confusion as she stared at the picture of the two women kissing at a beach side diner, with a banner above them saying, "Happy One Year Anniversary."  
  
"I can't answer that, but Mia can. Just ask her about it. I'm sure there's a reason she didn't tell you, but you have to give her a chance to explain this before you get all worked up about it."  
Simone couldn't take her eyes off the picture, "It's funny, when Mia was with Edmund and Maria came back, there was some serious tension between those two and I just assumed it was over Edmund, but it wasn't, they still have some kind of hate going on and that's just not like Mia. She's so sweet and caring, I can't imagine her in a bad breakup. God, this is so hard to understand. Anyway, thanks for helping me out. Sorry if I yelled at you or ignored you before.""That's okay, I'm used to it." Tad laughed, but could see Simone wasn't in the mood for that, "Did you need a ride back to Fusion?"  
  
"No, I brought my own car. I was shopping for a gift for Mia, that's why I wanted to meet way up here. I knew I wouldn't be running into her in this area. Thanks again Tad." Simone said with a slight smile.  
  
"Well, I hope everything works out for you and Mia." Tad said softly, patted Simone on the shoulder and walked her to her car.**  
  
Flashback ends.**  
  
"Simone? Where are you? You look like you're dreaming." Mia said as she finally got Simone's attention.  
  
"Sorry, I was just thinking and must've got lost." Simone said, wondering if she should mention Maria to Mia.  
  
"Okay, were you thinking about another secret or..." Mia asked, curious about what Simone was thinking about.  
  
"Actually, it wasn't my secret I was thinking about. It was..." Simone was about to continue, but the phone rang.  
  
Mia leaned back over on her side of the bed and picked up the phone, "Hello."

"Mia, it's Greenlee. Is Simone with you?"  
  
"Yes, she's right here beside me, why, is something wrong?" Mia asked, always prepared for the worst.  
  
"I don't know really, but it's possible we are all in for a big surprise. Ryan is back playing games again. He left all four of us an envelope with some kind of proposals in them. We have to look at them alone, we have to respond to his proposals alone and we have until tomorrow to give him our answers. We need you and Simone to get back to Fusion so we can all read these and decide what to do next."

"Okay, we'll be there in about 30 minutes." Mia replied and then rolled over and then turned to Simone, "We have to get the office."  
  
"Wait, we were having a nice talk here. You know, about secrets."  
  
"Oh, do you have more secrets you want to tell me about?" Mia asked with a raised eyebrow.  
  
"No, but I thought it would be a good time for both of us to come clean." Simone said, actually thinking she'd been tactful.  
  
Mia slipped out of the bed, but spun around in a flash as Simone finished her sentence, "Come clean? What's that supposed to mean?"  
  
"Nothing." Simone said just a little too loud, "I just meant I was telling you my secrets, so if you had any you could tell me all about them."

"Well I don't have any secrets so I guess we're done here. I'm going to have a shower, I'll see you when I get out."  
  
"Mia, don't be mad." Simone pleaded as she chased Mia into the bathroom, sticking her foot in the door just as Mia was slamming it shut.  
  
Blood curdling screams could be heard all through Pine Valley as Simone fell to the ground and grabbed her foot.  
  
Mia turned and fell to her knees, mortified by what she'd done, "OMG, what did I do? Are you okay? Where are you hurt?"  
  
"Everywhere!" Simone yelled, grabbing her ankle as she screamed out again.  
  
"I'm so sorry. I didn't know you were behind me. I swear, I would never do this. Let me go get some ice, just stay here."  
  
"Stay here?" Simone asked with a stunned look, "Are you kidding me? I can't move."  
  
Mia chuckled at Simone's angry sarcasm, "Oops, bad choice of words. I'll be back with some ice. I'm sorry okay; I can't believe this is happening."  
  
Simone felt a strange sense of calm at how frantic Mia was about her injury, "Ice is good. Thank you."

Mia ran into the kitchen, grabbed some ice from the freezer and rushed back into the bedroom, knelt back down beside Simone, grabbed a towel to put the ice in and quickly applied it to Simone's ankle.

"Well I hope this stops the swelling, but we are going to have to get you to the hospital and make sure nothing is broke down there." Simone said. Wanting so much to touch Simone's ankle and make it all better, but she knew she couldn't.  
  
"That does feel good." Simone said, putting her hand down to hold the towel in place and rubbing up against Mia's hand as she did, "I hope you know you're going to be my little slave until I can walk again."  
  
"Oh, you make it sound like a fun thing. I'm at your beck and call, mistress." Mia said with a salute.  
  
"A mistress is not in the army silly." Simone laughed, "As my first official order, I think you should take me to the hospital because this is really starting to hurt."  
  
"Oh no." Mia moaned, "Let me call Greenlee and have her meet us at the hospital. Maybe we can look at those silly proposals Ryan has for us while we wait."  
  
"Not until I can do it with you." Simone pleaded, "Besides, I'll want you with me the whole time I'm in that place. You know I hate hospitals."  
  
"You're such a baby." Mia teased, "Okay, I'll still call her because both her and Kendall will want to be with you to."  
  
"Good, I just hope I don't need a cast. I had one when I was in 7th grade and it itched like crazy and it was horrible. I kept bumping into things and that hurt even worse. I'm too much of klutz for a cast."  
  
"Let's wait and see what the doctor has to say." Mia said as she helped Simone to her feet.  
  
Simone limped her way to the apartment door, then stopped when a lightbulb went off in her head, "I sure hope Maria's there, she's certainly the prettiest doctor I've ever seen."  
  
Mia turned to Simone but didn't say anything, but she did seem nervous and uncomfortable at the mention of her name.  
  
"Is something wrong?" Simone asked.

Mia smiled, "No, why do you ask?""No reason." Simone replied while trying to hide her disappointment.  
  
"Ready?" Mia asked. When Simone nodded yes, they slowly made their way down to their car and off they went to the hospital.

**Enchantment **

Erika walked into her boardroom, slammed down her purse and kicked the first chair she could find. Of course the chair won the battle and Erica quickly sat on it so she could rest her aching foot.  
  
"Don't we have a temper little darling?" said a voice across the room.  
  
Looking around, Erica saw a shadowy figure immerge from the back of the room and shook her head as she saw who it was, "What do you want Krystal?"  
  
Krystal sauntered towards Erica, sashaying her hips from side to side, thrusting her ample breasts forward as she sat down inches from Erica, "Just a little bit of your precious time and I'll be on my way."  
  
"Well get to it then, I'm a very busy woman." Erica demanded.  
  
"Of course you are, what with trying to run Bianca's life, keep Enchantment out of Ryan, Kendall or Michael Cambias' hands and oh right, constantly avoiding marriage to that tall handsome man you claim to love. You really look stressed." Krystal said and then walked up behind Erica and put her hands on her shoulders.  
  
"What do you think you're doing?" Erica asked, her head twisting around and up as she did.  
  
Krystal didn't respond, she just smiled down at Erica and proceeded to give her shoulders a much needed massage.  
  
Doing her best to hold in her moans of appreciation, Erica finally let loose with an uncontrollable, "oh yes", much to the delight of Krystal.  
  
"Oh, is this helping?" Krystal asked with a big grin.  
  
"Okay, I'll admit it feels good and my neck and shoulders have never felt so good, but don't think this changes anything between us." Erica added emphatically.  
  
"Oh honey, who said it would? It's just a friendly massage. You really need to relax a bit, because it only gets better from here on out." Krystal said in her sexy southern accent.  
  
Erica didn't know what to say, so she did something rare and held her tongue as she felt Krystal's soft, yet expert hands working their magic down her shoulders and lower back. Instinctively Erica leaned forward, putting her head in her hands on the desk, so Krystal could get to her lower back, which had really been bothering her lately.  
  
Krystal was slow and meticulous the way she moved over every inch of Erica's back. When Krystal's hands slid back up her back and back up and over her shoulders, she quickly spun Erica around in the chair and stepped between her legs.  
  
"Excuse me? What are you doing now?" Erica questioned as Krystal moved her hands back over the front of her shoulders.  
  
"Sweetie, stop your worrying, I ain't gonna bite, well unless ya ask me to." Krystal teased.  
  
"Very funny." Erica said with a very fake mock laugh, "Just hurry up, I have a company to run."  
  
Leaning forward, Krystal slid her hands around Erica's tiny neck, squeezing gently, then releasing her grip as she moved down over her shoulders and then to the front of her chest.  
  
As Krystal was leaning forward, her breasts also moved forward and were a few inches from Erica's face, making it very hard for Erica to look anywhere without seeing a serious helping of cleavage. Then with Krystal's hands sliding perilously close to her breasts, Erica became very uncomfortable and yet felt very boxed in at the same time.  
  
Krystal carefully navigated her hands around the front of Erica's chest, massaging every inch of her shoulders, before moving down to her stomach. Once there, she began massaging her more vigorously, almost in a tickling motion, before ending her routine by sliding back up the front of Erica's chest, this time making sure to let her fingers rub up against the side of her breasts, which was the last straw for Erica as she stood up, "I think we're finished here Miss Carey."  
  
Erica watched as Krystal also got back to her feet, still only inches away, her breasts coming right up to Erica's eye level as she came to a stop, "Oh, I was just getting warmed up."  
  
"I just bet you were. Now, if you will move your breasts, I'd like to get back to my office."  
  
"Did you say move my breasts?"  
  
"What, no I did not." Erica denied instantly, her eyes still focused on Krystal's breasts, "I just asked you to move, I think your ego is playing tricks on you."  
  
"I'm sure that's what it was." Krystal smiled and stepped to the side, "I know you are meeting Babe here today. I was hoping you'd reconsider trying to pressure her to date your lovely daughter."  
  
"I beg your pardon?" Erica questioned in her usual over the top manner, "I have no intention of pressuring anyone to do anything, I simply want to have a talk with Babe and see where she stands where Bianca is concerned. From everything I've seen, the two of them have become very close and I'm just curious as to how Babe sees her relationship with Bianca. Now, thank you for the massage, it was, interesting, but effective. I am sure we'll meet again.""Yes, I'm sure we will." Krystal nodded as she walked with Erica out the doors of the large boardroom.  
**  
End of Chapter 8**


	9. Chapter Nine

**Chapter 9**

**  
**Anita Santos walked into the fitness center, looked around briefly and then marched up to the front desk.

A tall, athletic looking woman came out of the office, held out her hand, "Welcome to Workout City. My name is Katja and I'll be your host for today. Are you looking to join or try out our free guest pass?"

Shaking the woman's hand, Anita smiled and looked up at the prices, "Um, I was thinking of joining. My sister belongs and she's told me really good things about it."

"That's great." Katja said as she reached for a sign-up form, "Here, fill this out and I'll show you around."

Anita took the form, walked over to a small counter and began filling it out. 

"Hey there." A voice said from a distance.

Turning towards the voice, Anita was surprised to see Maggie walking her way, "Hi Maggie. Are you here for a workout?"

"Yep, I've got some frustration I need to work out." Maggie said with a grin. 

"I can relate to that." Anita smiled, "If you give me a minute we could workout together."

Maggie sat down her gym bag and stepped up beside Anita, "Sure, that would be good. Another tough day at the hospital?"

"Partly, but I'm still trying to deal with a bombshell my sister dropped on me the other day. It's not so much tension, but shock and surprise that I'm here to work off."

"I see, well, I can relate to sister problems." Maggie said, remembering all the times her and Frankie used to butt heads.

"Oh, you have a sister? Does she live here in Pine Valley?" Anita asked as she finished filling out the form.

"Well, she used to." Maggie said softly, "She died a couple years ago, but we used be real close, but we also drove each other crazy. A gym would've been a great place to work it all out."  
Anita felt awful, reached out, and put her hand on Maggie's arm, "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"It's okay, it brings back good memories." Maggie said with a smile, "Anyway, are you and your sister close?"

"I guess we are." Anita nodded with a smile as she handed her form to Katja and then turned back to Maggie, "Now that I'm back in Pine Valley at least. She's a doctor…I don't remember if you've met her or not, Maria Santos?"

Maggie waited for Anita to get her membership and then led the way to the changing rooms, "Yes, but I don't really know her."

Anita and Maggie entered the locker room and were surprised to see Babe standing half-naked as she got into her workout outfit.

Babe turned to see the two women staring at her and quickly pulled a top on and smiled back at them, "Hi, I was just getting ready for a workout, as you could see."

"Yes, we're here for the same reason. Would you like to join us?" Anita said, not thinking to check it with Maggie first.

"Well sure, I'd love that." Babe smiled, pulling up her tight leotard.

Maggie smiled as she walked past Babe, put down her bag and opened up a locker in front of her. Anita did the same. The two women changed into their workout outfits and the three of them walked back out into the sparsely crowded gym. 

They began with some mild stretching, which included some interesting conversations about Bianca.  
"I hear you're going out with Bianca?" Babe asked sweetly.

"Yes, we are together and doing great." Maggie quickly replied, "Unfortunately, Erica is trying to change all that. Has she approached you about possibly asking Bianca to the big gala next week?"

"Actually she did bring that up just yesterday." Babe said, stretching from side to side as Anita looked on, "I just didn't feel right about it since Bianca is your girlfriend, so I declined Erica's offer."

"Isn't that honorable of you." Maggie said with a forced smile, "So, if I wasn't with Maggie would you have asked Bianca out?"

Babe paused for a moment, looked at Anita and then back at Maggie, "I don't know. I hadn't thought about it."

Maggie smiled, at Babe's carefully chosen response and then turned to Anita, "How about you, I'm pretty sure Erica has approached you about the very same thing."

"I did the same thing as Babe; I politely declined since I knew the two of you were still together." Anita said, standing up and walking over to the stationary bikes and hopped on.

"No, actually I wondered if you'd ever ask her out." Maggie explained, trying to get an idea where they both stood on the Bianca situation.

"I guess to be honest I'd say yes." Anita said, looking over at Babe as she continued, "She's such a nice person, she's beautiful, talented and I think you're lucky to be with her."

"Yes, I am lucky." Maggie nodded as she picked up the pace on the bike.

"Who are you going to the gala with Anita?" Babe asked, taking a break from peddling to listen to Anita.

"Well, Bobby wanted to take me, but I don't think that's going to happen, so I don't know if I'll be going now. Why, aren't you going with JR?"

"No way, he's still trying to keep me from Bess. I'm pretty sure he's only being nice for appearance sake. When I'm alone with him, he doesn't hide his feelings for me and it only shows me how stupid I was to marry him in the first place." Babe said, unable to peddle as she put her head down on the speedometer.

"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself." Anita said, stepping off her stationary bike to comfort Babe.

Maggie followed, "I agree with Anita, you need to concentrate on the future and making sure you are not shut out of Bess' life. I hope you have a good lawyer, because going up against the Chandler's isn't going to be easy."

Babe sat up and smiled at her two newest supporters, "Thanks you two. I don't feel so alone anymore."

"Good, because you're not." Anita said, taking Babe's hand and helping her off the bike, "Listen, what you need is a long hot sauna to take your mind of this for awhile. Why don't we check out some of the other equipment, have ourselves a nice workout and then hit the sauna?"

"That sounds great." Babe said with a relieved sigh.

"I'd love to, but I'm meeting Bianca for dinner, so I'll have to take a rain check. You two have fun though." Maggie smiled, waved and walked back into the locker room.

Anita watched Maggie leave and then turned to Babe, "I guess it's just you and me now."

"Yep it is." Babe smiled, "So why don't you tell me a bit about yourself."

Anita moved over to the corner of the gym, sat down on one of the soft cushions and the two girls talked about everything from their childhoods, to their families to what they want from the future.

**Pine Valley Hospital**

Greenlee and Kendall opened the door to find Simone lying in bed with her foot elevated and Mia by her side.

"Is that as bad as it looks?" Greenlee said as she moved in for a closer look.

"They just took some x-rays so I'll know in a few minutes if it's serious or just a bad sprain." Simone said clutching her leg for maximum effect.

Kendall walked over to and sat down on the edge of the bed, "This is all very fascinating. I'm sure Simone will survive a boo boo on her leg or ankle or wherever, but our company is in turmoil and we've just been given some kind of bizarre proposal from Ryan and I want to find out what that's all about, so if Simone could stop whining for just one minute, we could get these proposals read and find out what to do next."

Greenlee gave Kendall a tap on the shoulder and a look of disbelief as she shook her head, "Kendall, can't you see that Simone is in pain? I think we have a few minutes to spare, so let's make sure she's okay and then deal with the other stuff."

Simone sat up and looked at Kendall with a slight grin, "Well, it's good to know you are looking out for Fusion. I'll try and keep my whining down to a minimum since I do want to know what Ryan has to do with all this."  
Mia wasn't so amused by Kendall's lack of tact, "You know you can be very cold sometimes and I think you should apologize to Simone for your comments. She is not a whiner at all, she's in serious pain, now say you're sorry."

"Oh god, okay, I'm sorry Simone." Kendall said as she smiled at Simone and then looked back at Mia, "There, can we get on with this now?"

"Yes we can." Mia smiled and sat back down beside Simone.

"Good." Kendall sighed and then pulled out two envelope's and handed them to Mia and Simone.

It was then that Mia noticed the four women standing in the doorway, "Who are they?" 

Greenlee turned and waved at the women and then smiled back at Mia and Simone, "Oh, that's all part of Ryan's game. They are here to make sure we don't open these envelopes unless we are alone."

"I see." Simone asked, holding up her envelope to the light and hoping to see inside.  
"Well do you have any idea what these are about?"

"My guess is they are pure and simple bribery. He will offer us each something he hopes we can't refuse in order to divide and conquer. I say we reject them all without reading them." Kendall stated emphatically as she tossed her envelope to the floor.

"I don't think it's going to be that simple." Greenlee added, "I do agree he will use Fusion against us somehow, but I think he's going to offer each of us the chance to be CEO of Fusion, but at the expense of the others, but I don't think any of us would take an offer that excludes the other, right?"

Greenlee didn't realize it but she ended her question looking right at Kendall, but the irony wasn't lost on Simone or Mia as they could see Kendall begin to turn red instantly.

"What the hell is this?" Kendall yelled as she rushed over and got in Greenlee's face, "You think I'd sell you out? Still? After all this time, you still don't trust me? Well, that's just great. I can't say it's a surprise though. I always knew it was too good to be true and the first chance you had you'd turn on me. Well, that's fine. I'm out of here!"

Kendall turned, grabbed her purse from the bed and turned to walk out the door, but was quickly stopped by Greenlee, who had a firm grip on her arm. "Okay, normally I'd get mad and offended that you'd think I didn't trust you, but I can see, well sort of anyway, how you could make such a drastic assumption about me."

"If that's an apology it's not a very good one." Kendall smirked, and then slid her hand over Greenlee's, "Okay, I can see that I might have overreacted just a little, but it's habit."

"I understand completely, but let's make a pact to stop doing this to each other." Greenlee said, half-joking and half-serious.

"Count me in." Kendall nodded and gave Greenlee big hug.

Mia squeezed Simone's hand as she watched her two friends hug, "Now that you two have kissed and made up, let's go off into separate rooms, read these silly proposals and get this over with. We need to keep Ryan from splitting us up."

"I agree, let's do this and we can get on with our plans for Fusion." Simone said, anxious to read what Ryan had in mind for her.

Greenlee was just as anxious to read her little proposal, "Okay, why don't we go back to our apartments, send our answer to Ryan and then meet back at Simone's room in the morning?"

"I'm all for it." Mia added.

Simone and Kendall nodded agreement and the four women had a group hug and set off to discover what Ryan had planned for them.

**End of Part 9.**

Okay, to those who are reading this story I would like to say sorry it's been so long to get another chapter up and posted, but I've had mega computer problems, some real life situations to deal with, but I'm ready to continue on with this story.

Obviously, a lot has changed in the past year, with Mia, Maggie and Bianca all leaving the show, plus I do believe Maria is leaving as well, so the question is, what to do about all these changes.   
I've decided to keep Maggie and Bianca as they are a big part of why this story was created in the first place, but I will find ways to have Mia and Maria leave and include the new characters Amanda, Di and Julia Santos. I'm not sure of the status of Natalia Cigliuti who plays Anita either. I know she's pregnant in real life, but I've heard rumors she may not be returning, so I may wait until I find out more news before including her any further.

As for the story itself, I will continue on as if 6 months had passed and the current time frame will be June 205. The story with Ryan and the Fusion girls will be resolved, but the rest of the stories won't really be affected as there were no time specific storylines in place. Mia's departure will be explained as will Maria's.

On a side note, but for those who happen to watch the other two ABC soaps, I've decided to do something similar with GH and OLTL. Although, for whatever reason there seem to be less women on both those shows to work with, so I was thinking of combing both shows and see how that goes. 

I've actually started the GH story and have quite a bit written already, but when I tried to do OLTL, there just seemed to be very few options, so I decided to move a handful of female characters from Landview to Port Charles and have them interact with the women there. I can't take all the characters from OLTL, so if I don't include a favorite of yours, I am sorry. I can say that I plan to include, Jessica and Natalie Buchanan, Adrianna and Evangeline. They will be added after the first couple chapters.

I guess what I'm asking is are any of you interested in a GH/OLTL hybrid soap story similar to the AMC one you're reading? If so, I'd really like it if you could send an e-mail at saying a simple yes you'd like to read it. I'm not asking for anything else, just something that gives me an idea as to whether there is an interest in a story like this.

**End of Chapter 9**

Thanks again for reading.

**Buffyaith19 **


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Simone sat at her desk, going through the motions of work, yet not actually getting anything accomplished. It had been 6 months since Mia left and the hole in her heart hadn't healed much at all.

"Hey there, are you still thinking of Mia?" Greenlee asked again, the same question she'd been asking since Mia left Pine Valley, "I know it's terrible what happened, but it's really time for you to move on. This is not good for you. We've been trying to get you active for months now. Please come to dinner with us tonight?"

"Thanks, but I think I'll go home and watch some TV."

"I love TV as much as the next person, but we all know it's all repeats now. It's summer, so just let us take you out to dinner and we can even see a movie if you want. Just something that's fun."

"I don't know." Simone moaned.

"Well that's better than no, so that settles it, you're coming with us. Be ready at 7. We'll talk, eat and then figure out something else to do, but it will be fun. Okay? Now smile and say yes Greenlee I'll come."

Simone couldn't help but smile at her friends persistence, "Yes Greenlee, I'll come to dinner with you and Kendall. Happy now?"

"I'm thrilled." Greenlee said with a big smile, "I have to pick Kendall up at Bianca's, but we'll be at your place at 7, no later than 7:30. 8 at the latest, just depends on how fast Kendall gets ready."

"Oh right, Kendall is the only one who takes hours getting ready."

"I'm glad you agree." Greenlee laughed, waved at Simone and rushed towards the elevator.

**Ryan Lavery's office.**

Ryan sat back in his expensive chair, opened up the four files in front of him and began analyzing the mistakes he made in creating the three proposals that didn't work.

He opened Greenlee's proposal and the first thing he saw was a giant NO painted over every single page of the document and a profanity laced limerick that he couldn't help find amusing, written right after she had torn up the 'sign here' section.

In hindsight, he felt his mistake was underestimating the love that Greenlee felt for Kendall and over estimating her greed and need for personal success.

His proposal, filled with numerous clauses and stipulations, based on who accepted/rejected what, was based on the notion of offering Greenlee 51 percent control of Fusion. The conditions were that she had to fire Kendall and never allow her to work at Fusion again. He also agreed to pay off the debt and infuse the company with $50 million cash if she accepts.

He then opened Kendall's proposal that was returned almost untouched. Her proposal was nearly identical to Greenlee's, with one exception, he also offered Kendall controlling interest in Enchantment as well as a seat on the board of governors. Perks he was sure would make the greedy and vindictive Kendall jump at.

As he picked up Simone's proposal, he couldn't help feel just the slightest bit of guilt for what he did to her, but it didn't last long. He looked over his proposal to Simone which gave her full control of Fusion, but she would have to fire Simone and Kendall. He had no provision for Mia as he was sure she wouldn't be a factor once she read his proposal and he was right. Also in the proposal were numerous financial bonuses, including houses, cars, jewelry and other such superficial things.

His theory that all three women would always choose themselves over all else proved to be his undoing. His years of experience had him believing that all three women would choose possessions over friendship. He ended up realizing that he didn't know any of the Fusion women at all.

As he put his feet down on the floor he picked up the folder titled Mia, the only one with a big red check mark over it. He opened it up and smiled as he saw her signature at the bottom of the document.

He didn't offer her anything to do with Fusion as he knew she wouldn't want to be involved with it once she read and looked at his proposal. Mostly it was a string of monetary donations to the numerous charities Mia was always so passionate about as well as a large sum of money towards opening a business of her choosing, as long as it was in another state. His final piece of the puzzle was a document, filled with pictures and video of Simone's meeting with Tad Martin. This alone was devastating for Mia to witness, but it wasn't enough to make her leave. That's why there was one item left for Mia to look at.

Ryan couldn't resist another look himself, so he opened the video of Simone in bed with another woman. Not just any woman, it was Greenlee in bed with Simone. They were making wild passionate love. The video was clear, the audio was clear and there was no denying what Mia was seeing. In the top right corner of the video was the date and time. It was recorded a month after Mia and Simone had been together. Mia hated the idea of leaving without saying goodbye, but she knew it was over for her and Simone and the countless incentives Ryan tossed her way were just too hard to pass up considering the circumstances. So she signed the document and was on the next plane out of Pine Valley. Her current residence is unknown to everyone except Ryan Lavery.

Putting down Mia's folder, he picked up the phone and began to dial.

"Hello?" the female voice asked.

"It's me. Is everything in place?" Ryan asked as he looked out his office window.  
"Yes, I will do my best, but I can't promise you anything. This is not something I am any good at you know. I still think you should get somebody else. I just don't like this idea."

"I didn't ask if you liked it." Ryan snapped, "Last I recall you were in a pretty bad situation. Your husband left you. He was on the run from the law and you were wanted for questioning in a string of bank heists. Now, aren't all those things taken care of?"

"Yes, but I didn't ask for your help. You gave it willingly. I didn't know you'd hold it over my head. What happened to you Ryan?"

"Don't you worry about me." Ryan ordered, "Now, as long as you follow through with this plan, your debt will be paid in full."

"Sure, but I'll have nobody left in Pine Valley I can call my friends."

Ryan rolled his eyes, "A small price to pay for your freedom. Besides, there's not really a lot of good people left in Pine Valley worth being friends with, so just do your job."

"Fine, but one day all your dirty little tactics are going to backfire and someone is going to make sure you pay for it."

"That sounds like a threat."

"Not at all. Just an observation." The woman said while crossing her fingers.

"Thanks for the warning, now get a move on. You don't want to be late for your big entrance."

The woman slammed down the phone, turned and kicked the trashcan and then fell down on the chair beside her. She wanted to cry, but didn't have any energy or tears left inside her.

She walked back to her bedroom, looked through her closest for something to wear and as she was getting dressed she couldn't help notice a picture of her and her sister at the beach during happier times. At the bottom it was signed, "Love ya sis, Maria."

With that, Julia Santos began getting dressed for her busy night ahead.

**Babe's apartment**.

Maggie and Bianca arrived at Babe's apartment, carrying bags and a large birthday cake. Babe opened the door looking anything like a happy birthday girl.

Maggie set her bags on the floor, while Bianca put the cake on the kitchen table and they both converged on Babe who still had tears running down her face.

"What's going on?" Bianca asked, looking around the apartment at the broken furniture, broken glasses on the ground and numerous paintings that had been vandalized.

"I don't know what happened. I was sitting reading the paper this morning happy as could be. The doorbell rang and I went to answer it and two men pushed me to the ground and then proceeded to trash the place."

"Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

"No, that's what's so weird. They didn't hurt me or take any money or anything valuable, they just made a mess of this place."

"You don't think JR had anything to do with this do you?" Bianca asked, knowing the lengths the Chandler's went to get their way sometimes.

"I honestly don't know. I'm not sure what reason he'd have to do this. He has Bess still. He doesn't have to threaten or scare me. He won." Babe explained as she cleared off some debris from the sofa and sat down, "If it wasn't JR, then someone else did this and I have no idea why."

"It's okay. We'll help you clean up and then find out what's going on here." Maggie said while trying to find a place amongst the wreckage to sit.

"Something does seem weird about this." Bianca said as she surveyed the damage, "The fact the attackers didn't harm you is a very good thing, but to me that says someone wanted to cause you some kind of pain, but not physical. Have you had any arguments or disagreements with anyone recently?"

Babe thought for a minute or two, but just shook her head, "Not that I know of."

"Maybe it wasn't a big argument, but maybe something that you didn't notice at the time but the other person wasn't happy." Maggie asked, still cleaning up pieces of broken glass from the floor, "It's been my experience that something that seemed small to you could be very big to someone else."

Babe sat up in her chair, "I just thought of something that fits that totally."

"What is it?" Bianca asked.

"A couple days ago I had Amanda over just to say hi and get to know her and we spent the day talking and had a blast. She stayed for dinner and she told me about her life and some of it wasn't really very fun for her, so I felt like we bonded and I think she did to."

"That sounds great, but I'm not seeing the downside here." Maggie said as she looked at Babe.

"That's just the beginning." Babe smiled, "Later on that night Jamie came over. Well, almost instantly Amanda changed. She turned into party girl. She was all over Jamie, flirting with him, but looking at me the whole time. Then after a while, she just stood up and began doing an impromptu striptease."

"Okay, that's a little odd I guess, but she's young and pretty and who knows why she did it, but I'm sure you must be getting to the bad part." Maggie asked with an impatient sigh.

"I didn't want to make it sound all bad, because it wasn't." Babe explained, "Anyway, when she started to dance around and remove her clothes, I was sure she would just stop before she went to far. But I was wrong. She removed her bra as if it was the most natural thing in the world to dance naked in front of two relative strangers. Then she moved over to me and started really moving the body of hers in front of me, going so far as to hop onto my lap and rub her breasts right into my face. I was stunned. That's when I probably set things in motion."

"It sounded pretty sexy really, but what happened next?" Bianca asked, more than a little curios to hear the rest of the story.

"Well, I just started feeling uneasy about her dancing and touching me like that in front of Jamie. I thought she was going too far. I smiled at first and then said that's enough and I repeated it a couple times, but I think she thought I was kidding, but then I kind of pushed her off me and told her stop. As you can imagine she was embarrassed and I guess she might've felt rejected and hurt and who knows what else. She picked up her clothes, didn't say a word and left. I haven't heard from her since. I'm not saying she is behind this at all, but that's the only sort of argument I've been involved in lately. So what do you think?"

"I can see how she'd be upset, but most people get over that. I don't know her well enough to say what she's capable of." Bianca said, still trying to take in Babe's little story.

"I've known people similar to Amanda." Maggie said as she sat down beside Bianca, "They are the nicest people in the world when you're alone with them, but when others are around, you'd swear they were a completely different person. I'm not sure if she would resort to this just because you told her to stop her little striptease, but I think we need to find out."

"Could you guys talk to her? I'm not really up to that right now." Babe said as she looked at the mess around her.

After looking around at the mess, Bianca turned to Babe and smiled, "You know what, you can't stay here. Why don't you come stay with us until this gets cleaned up. I can call some people and have them over here by the end of the day. I'm not sure how long it will take to do all the repairs, but time is not a problem. You can stay with us for as long as it takes."

**Erica Kane's office.**

Krystal strolled into the waiting room just outside of Erica's office, her tight low cut dress causing quite a stir with the group of businessmen who waited in line to see Erica.

Without stopping at the receptionists desk, Krystal barged into Erica's office and slammed the door behind her, "Do you mind telling me why you haven't returned my calls? If you think you can just have your way with me and then toss me aside like a used tissue, you've got another thing coming."

Erica calmly got up from her desk, walked past Krystal and met her secretary as she came chasing after Krystal, "It's okay. I forgot I set up a meeting with Miss Carey and am so sorry I didn't tell you about it. Give me 5 minutes and send in the group from mayor's office."

Erica's secretary nodded, smiled and walked back to her desk.

After closing the door, locking it behind her, Erica walked back and stood in front of Krystal, "Okay, let me explain."

Krystal laughed, "This ought to be good."

"I know you're upset, but you have to look at this from my perspective. I'm engaged to a wonderful man who I plan to marry one day. If word got out about our…well you know what, I'd be ruined."

"Well, as long as Erica Kane is protected, the hell with everyone else? Is that how you see things? You know, I don't know what I saw in you. I should've know this would happen."

"You're taking this all wrong. I never said I regretted the time we spent together; I just think it's best if we move on with our lives. I'm sure you have any number of men who will jump at the chance to take you to dinner."

"Oh, I just love how you are ready to ship me off to whoever just so you don't have to deal with your real feelings. We did not just "spent time" together little lady. We did a whole lot more than just talk. Or did you forget the night you flew me to NY and we spent the night making love in the penthouse suit of the Ritz-Carlton. Well, I haven't forgot that night or what you said to me the next morning. Do you remember? Do you?"

Erica turned, walked back to her desk and stared out her fancy window.

"I see you do remember, so why are you doing this?" Krystal said as she walked up and stood behind Erica, "I can see it in your eyes, you still want me. You can't deny this. Don't throw this away because of your guilt or what you think is an obligation to Jack. He wouldn't want this."

"Don't tell me what Jack wants or what I want. You have no idea." Erica fired back, using her favorite trick when backed into a corner, attack.

Krystal put her hands on Erica's shoulder, but Erica pulled away, so she did it again and again until Erica relented, "Okay, now tell me you don't feel something when I touch you. Tell me you aren't burning up inside. Tell me you don't want to turn around and kiss me and take me right here on your desk. Tell me all this isn't true and I'll walk out that door."

Erica could feel her body temperature rise the moment Krystal's soft hands touched her equally soft skin. She turned and stared up at Krystal, her eyes beginning to tear up as she fought back her urge to kiss the tall southern belle who stood before her, "I'm sorry, but I can't do this. I'm not strong enough. I'm marrying Jack. That's what my life has to be right now. I'll never forget the time we've spent together. This is not easy for me. I do feel things for you, but I just can't do this. I'm sorry."

"Fine." Krystal said angrily and walked towards the door, stopping to look at Erica one last time, "You know, people told me, don't get involved Erica. She'll take what she needs and then leave you in the dust. I guess they were right. I hope you're happy with Jack. He's a good man. Goodbye Erica."  
As soon as the door closed, Erica turned, stumbled over to her chair, sat down and began to cry.

Krystal walked proudly out of Erica's office, but as soon as she got into the hallway, she to broke down in tears. It wasn't but a few seconds after she'd begun to cry that she heard a soft voice, "Are you okay?"

Looking up, she wiped her eyes and tried to focus on the woman standing in front of her. After a moment she was able to see who it was, "Oh hi Di. I'm fine. I was just upset about Babe being kept from her little girl."

"Yes, that's terrible." Di said, comforting Krystal with a friendly hug, "I'm trying to get JR to rethink this, but he's a very stubborn young man. If there's anything I can do to help, please just let me know."

"Thanks, I might take you up on that. I've had a really bad day here and if you're not busy I'd love some company for lunch."

"Okay, that sounds good. I have a meeting with Erica about a job, but that shouldn't take long."

"A job? With Erica? Are you crazy?" Krystal asked loudly.

Di stood silent unsure what to say to that.

** Parchelli's Italian Restaurant**.

Simone, Greenlee and Kendall sat in a corner table, sipping their water as they waited for their guest to arrive.

"I told you I only agreed to lunch with you two. You didn't tell me you invited some stranger until I got here. I don't feel like doing business while I eat. You two can take care of this, so what is going on?"

Kendall and Greenlee exchanged glances, shrugs and even a couple inaudible growls, before Kendall gave Greenlee a firm nudge.

"We wanted this to be a surprise. It's a surprise for our guest as well, so there's a good chance she'll be just as upset, but as they say, no pain, no gain."  
Simone gave Greenlee a puzzled look, "What the hell does that mean?"

"What Greenlee was trying to say, quite poorly I might add, was that we believe you've been moping around over Mia for way too long and if you won't get yourself back into the dating world, we'll do it for ya."

"I do admire your brutal honesty Kendall, but I don't need help because I'm not ready to see anyone." Simone said calmly, then leaned in and stared at both women, "Now butt out, both of you before I get really angry. You don't want to see me angry."

Just then, a woman stepped up to their table, "I bet that's true."

Simone looked up to see a pretty woman with shoulder length dark hair standing in front of her, "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell it for the world."

"That's okay, I bet I know what you're upset about." The woman said as she stared at Greenlee and Kendall, "It looks like I'm not the only one who doesn't appreciate you meddling with my love life."

Greenlee and Kendall once again exchanged looks of guilt, but neither managed to say a thing.

Simone got up from her chair and smiled at the woman, "Hi, I'm Simone Torres."

"I'm Julia Santos; it's nice to meet you."

"I'd really like to get away from my two well meaning, but annoying friends right now." Simone said, staring right at her two best friends with an evil look, before turning her frown into a smile as she looked back at Julia, "If you'd like to have a nice friendly dinner with no dating implications at all, I'd love it if you could join me?"

"That sounds like a wonderful idea." Julia agreed, "I'll talk to you two later. You have a nice night."

Greenlee and Kendall could only watch as Simone and Julia left the restaurant, but as soon as they did, Greenlee had a huge smile on her face, "Well how about that, mission accomplished."

"What are you talking about? They are both pissed at us and couldn't wait to get away."

"So what, let them be mad at us. What better way to get to know each other. They have something in common already. Their dislike for us. But you know what, that will pass and they did leave together. I couldn't have asked for anything more."

Kendall paused as she listened to Greenlee's explanation and couldn't help but smile herself, "OMG, you're right. This did work out well. And OMG, don't they look great together."  
"I know. I just hope this is a new beginning for both of them. They really do need some happiness about now." Greenlee added as she slid over closer to Kendall, "Now that it's just us two, why don't we skip the meal and go home, order takeout and spend the night cuddled up together watching old movies."

"I hope that's not all we'll be doing." Kendall said with a sexy smile.

Greenlee leaned in and kissed Kendall on the lips, "Of course it's not all we'll be doing, but it's sure a nice way to spend some time before we head back to the bedroom for the rest of the night."

Kendall kissed Greenlee hard and deep, the two women wrapping arms around each other as they kiss grew in passion, oblivious to their surroundings, as nothing in the world was as important as the kiss they were sharing.

**The Chandler Poolhouse**.

Amanda pranced around the Chandler pool house, wearing a bikini so tiny it would make a stripper blush. She loved the attention she got from everyone, even if it was mostly looks of shock and horror, mixed with a lot of drooping tongues and perverted stares.

There was something about being on display for the world to see that turned Amanda on and she wasn't about to give it up.

One thing Amanda did despise, was someone standing in the way of her precious sun, so when she felt the heat stop shining down on her body for even one second, she knew it was time to let them know how rude they were being, "Move out of the way. Can you not see that you're blocking the sun?"

Bianca noticed that she and Maggie were in the way, so they stepped to the side, "I hope that's better."

"Yes, thank you. Now, I'm really not in the mood to talk to the help, so could you just leave me alone."

Maggie couldn't believe the way Amanda was talking to them and walked back in front of the sun and got ready to let her have it, "Why you little bit…"

Bianca covered Maggie's mouth before she could finish the sentence, but Amanda didn't need to hear the final to letters to know what she was about to say, "Just who the hell are you to be talking to me this way in my own house?"

"You spoiled brat. This isn't your house, it's Adam's and you're just an annoying little slut of a guest." Maggie said

Amanda stood up, walked over and looked down at the much shorter Maggie, "Let me guess, you're Bianca's girlfriend. I heard she was pretty, but had a big mouth. Someone sure nailed you to a tee."

Maggie was ready to lunge at Amanda, but Bianca stepped in the middle to try and place peacemaker, "Okay, let's just take a breath, cool down and start over."

"Fine by me, it's not like I came over to your place and insulted you or your bitchy friend."

"Who are you calling a bitch?" Maggie yelled as she again tried to get at Amanda.

"You really should get a leash for that one. She's out of control." Amanda said as she bent over, wiped off her lawn chair and lay down on her stomach, "Bianca, would you be an angel and put some lotion on my back. I have very sensitive skin."

"I doubt you have a sensitive bone in that hot little body of yours." Maggie said as she proceeded to look over every inch of Amanda's hot little body from head to toe.

Bianca shrugged her shoulders at Maggie, leaned down, grabbed the suntan lotion and knelt down beside Amanda, "Sure. Do you mind if we talk while I do this?"

Amanda shook her yes, "Feel free, I'm not much in the talking mood though, so I hope it's interesting."

Maggie lifted Bianca to her feet, "What are you doing? You don't have to lotion this little slut up. I know for a fact, without even talking to her, that she's responsible for Babe's apartment being trashed. She's just the kind of person to do it."

"Maggie, we don't know that." Bianca whispered, "Let's just try and get her to relax and maybe she'll open up about that night."

"Excuse me, I can feel sun on my back and that means the lotion isn't on yet." Amanda said without looking up.

"Oh god, how can one person be so annoying?" Maggie asked as she glared over at Amanda.

"We are helping Babe so let's just try and get through this without you two duking it out." Bianca said with a smile just as she knelt back down and took in the view of Amanda's almost naked body.

Maggie cringed as she saw Bianca's hands move over Amanda's already tanned back, but she turned almost red when she saw Bianca's fingers graze the side of Amanda's breast.

Bianca rubbed lotion all over Amanda's back, neck and shoulders, trying to ignore the many moans coming from Amanda's mouth and continue with her questions, "So, I hear you had some fun with Babe and Jamie the other night."

Amanda turned to her side and stared up at Bianca, "Who told you about that? Let me guess, it was Babe."

"Why would you assume it was Babe? We both know Jamie very well to." Bianca explained as she moved her hands down Amanda's lower back.

"Because, she is such a prude." Amanda said with a sigh as she lay back down.

"I've never thought that about her. What makes you say that?"

"I'm sure she told you what happened; at least her version of it, so you know. I was having a little fun and she freaked out and I left."

Bianca thought about how best to keep Amanda talking, "Hmm, why don't you tell me your version then."

Amanda rolled over onto her side again, "Fine, Babe and I were having a really good time. She invited me over to talk and we really got along well. Then Jamie comes over and I just felt like being sexy so I started to do a little strip. I wanted to tease Jamie a bit as I could feel him undressing me with his eyes from the moment he came in, plus I wanted to maybe let babe see me in a different light. I was just being me. I like to have fun and do silly things like this. But, I could see she wasn't very happy about it so I left."

Maggie had finally cooled down and decided to join the discussion, "I don't want to fight, but why do you think Babe got so weird?"

"I don't know, maybe she felt a little embarrassed having me dance with her like that. It was kind of sexual I guess, but I swear to god I thought she was into it." Amanda said, sitting straight up as she began to plead her case, "The whole time I was there I felt this energy coming from her. Not the same as when a guy checks me out, but a much more subtle version, which is usually how girls seem to do it. Anyway, I liked the idea but have been wrong about this before, so I wasn't going to act on it, but I thought a little sexy dance would show her I was into her, but I guess I got a bit carried away. I still don't think she had to embarrass me by pushing me away like that."

"Well, she does feel bad about that." Bianca said, "Anyway, it's over now so maybe you should talk to Babe about this."

"No way." Amanda said stubbornly as she lie back down, "She was the one who was out of line, she can come apologize to me."

"Okay, I tried to be fair, but you are just so unreasonable." Maggie said, shaking her head at Amanda's attitude, "Why is it you left out the reason Babe got so uncomfortable? Huh? The fact you pushed your breast into her face like a little slut."

"That's it, you are so going to pay for that." Amanda said, getting to her feet, grabbing Maggie by the arms and after a little struggle, pushed her into the pool.

Bianca could only watch as Maggie pushed the water from her eyes, pushed back her wet hair, and made a beeline for the side of the pool.

"Amanda, that really wasn't very wise." Bianca laughed, "Maggie might be short, but she's a lot stronger than you think.

"Well then keep her off away from me." Amanda said as she ran and hid behind Bianca.

Maggie got up and out of the pool, still incredibly angry, her t-shirt and jeans soaked as were her favorite shoes, but she didn't have time to think about that, her only thoughts were about what she would do when she got a hold of Amanda.

Amanda held onto Bianca tightly, screaming for her to stop Maggie from doing anything, but with Maggie bearing down on her, Amanda decided to do something unheard of for her, "Wait." She said as she stepped out from behind Bianca, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. But, you have to admit that if I called you a slut you'd do the same thing."

"That's your apology?" Maggie asked while trying to wring out her clothes.

"Well yes." Amanda replied, yet again annoyed that Maggie would dare question her about such things.

"I'll admit I shouldn't have called you a slut. That was wrong and I am sorry for that. But, see these clothes. These wet dripping filled with water clothes? Well, I didn't come here for a wet t-shirt contest, that's more your style anyway, but as wet as they are they will be fine, but these shoes, OMG these shows are not meant for rain you bitch. They are genuine leather. Do you know what happens to leather when it's wet?"

Amanda looked down at Maggie's turquoise slingback's and then back up at Maggie, "No, I always buy waterproof leather. You should try it though; it would save you embarrassing situations like this."

"Why you annoying little…"

Once again Bianca felt the need to prevent things from getting out of control, stepping in front of Maggie and Amanda, "I'll get you a new pair. I know you must be mad, but I think there's more going on here than meets the eye."

"If anyone is buying me new shoes, it's bikini babe." Maggie yelled, then looked at Bianca, unsure what her last comment was about, but it distracted her long enough to let her cool down, at least for a moment, "What do you mean?"

Bianca leaned down and whispered into Maggie's ear, "I'm not sure, but I get this feeling that Amanda is holding in a really big secret and it's not a good one. I don't know what it is, but I was very good at keeping my eating disorder a secret, but secrets are hard to keep and a lot of times it would manifest itself into rage, anger and emotional outbursts. I don't know what her secret is, but I believe she's dealing with something very dark."

Maggie suddenly felt a bit silly yelling at Amanda, but when she looked down at her shoes, she found it really hard to smile.

** End of Chapter 10**

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